Holidays
by Kurosani
Summary: Hinata's having a slumberparty over Christmas, and some unexpected things happen. onesided ShinoHina, NaruHina, Onesided LeeTen, confused NejIno Review plz! Includes Inside Jokes about the Hyuuga family. DISCLAIMER: we dont own Naruto or anything.. geez.
1. Sleepover :'D

Chap 1 – Sleepover :'D

It was the night before Christmas and the little ninjas was having a little slumber party to celebrate the holidays. They were at the Hyuuga resident, because Hinatas parents were on a trip to the mountains. For some reason they had forced Hanabi to come with them but insisted that Hinata would stay… Hinata stood for the moment in the kitchen, and tried to make food to everybody, but it didn't go to well, because Chouji came and 'tasted' the food all the time. It resulted in that she didn't have any food at all after that he had came for about 7 times.

"Oh… I have to go to the shop…" She walked out of the kitchen and towards the main door. It was a minor storm outside so she decided to take her warmest jacket and her big boots. She checked the pockets to see if she had the wallet with her, and then looked towards the living room, where all her friends were. "I'm going to the store! I won't take long!" Shino came out to the hallway.

"…I will make you company…" Hinata shook her head a little.

"You don't need to, Shino-kun…" Shino walked to the door and put his hand on the handle.

"… We are team-mates and team-mates make each other company…" Hinata looked at him.

"B..But Shouldn't you take on some warmer clothes?" Shino looked at her.

"…If you have not noticed… I always have my jacket on…"

"B…but… It's a storm outside… its cold…" He looked down at his jacket and then at her again.

"… I will not freeze… I have a knitted sweater under my jacket…"

"Oh… okay… Then it's.. Fine then…. I guess…" He opened the door and walked out in the snowstorm. Hinata followed him and shivered a little when she got snow in her face. And while they were going to the store Kiba and Naruto was having a pillow fight.

"I'm going to win!" Kiba threw a pillow at Naruto. The little blond ninja dodged the pillow and threw another one on Kiba.

"Yeah right, dattebayo!!" Kiba took the pillow and threw it back at Naruto.

"YEAH!"

"Could you please be quiet? It's troublesome to sleep if you're too noisy…" Shikamaru laid in his sleepingbag. Ino sighed a little.

"Shikamaru… You're not supposed to sleep at slumberpartys…" Shikamaru crawled even deeper down in his sleepingbag.

"I don't care… Slumberparties are troublesome… I don't even know why I'm here… What a pain…" Ino looked weird at him.

"Ok…ay? You're weird…" Shikamaru didn't answer, he had begun to snore. Ino sighed again. "I can't believe him…" The room was filled with sleepingbags and pillows and it was hard to believe that the leader of the Hyuuga lived here. It also was chips everywhere, and that's just because Choujis chipsbags had been ripped apart by Kiba and Akamaru. Neji sat in a corner, trying to convince himself that it wasn't his responsibility to keep things under control. It wasn't his house, so he could just take it easy. He closed his white eyes and took some deep breaths. Lee was jumping around in the sofas, and TenTen tried to make him stop.

"Lee! Stop that! It isn't your apartment! It's Hinatas house!" Lee jumped up in the air and did a triplespin before landing in the sofas again.

"The sofas are so bouncy!" TenTen tried to grab his arm.

"Lee!! What if they broke?! They look expensive!!"

"Jump with me, TenTen!" Lee took her hand and pulled her up in the sofa.

"What?! No!!" TenTen tried to go down from the sofa. Lee began to jump again, still holding her hand. "Lee!! Stop!" TenTen didn't want to jump in the expensive looking sofas. Lee stopped jumping and looked sad at her.

"But…TenTen…"

"But what?" She pouted a little.

"It's funny to jump in the sofas…." Lee looked a little sadder when he saw her look.

"But what if the sofas broke? Then we have to buy new sofas, and then I'll be broke, and then I can't pay my rent, and then I'll have to move out of my apartment, and I don't want to move out of my apartment, Lee." He looked down.

"I'm sorry, TenTen…"

"I like my apartment really much, and where will I live if I've to move out?" TenTen didn't listen to Lees apologises. Lee thought a while.

"Well… You can live in my apartment in that case…"

"No, Lee… Your apartment is really small, and if I would live there, I wouldn't get an own room, and I want to have an own room."

"Oh… Okay… I won't jump any more…"

"A girl needs to have her own room, Lee. It's really important for a girl to have an own room." TenTen didn't listen to Lee. Lee started to get impatient.

"TenTen, I said I wouldn't jump any more…."

"Oh… sorry… I didn't hear that…" TenTen smiled a little and got down from the sofa. Lee then jumped onto Naruto.

"I want to have a pillowfight too, Naruto-kun!"

"Get of me!!! DATTEBAYO!!" Naruto glared at Lee.

" No, I won't!" Lee clung onto Naruto while smiling big, thinking it was a fun game.

"DATTEBAYO!!!" Naruto started to jump around, trying to get Lee of him. Lee giggled a little while Naruto ran around in the room. "GET OF ME!!!!" Naruto jumped down on the floor and started to roll around. Lee giggled even more.

"You're funny, Naruto-kun!"

"GET OF ME, FUZZY EYEBROWS!!!" Naruto yelled while waving with his arms. Neji couldn't stand it any more so he stood up and screamed.

"SHUT UP EVERYBODY!!!" Everybody got silent and stared at him. "I won't tolerate that you destroy the Hyuuga head family house!!! Sit down and shut up or I'll zap you!" He glared at them, one after one. Everybody sat down, or sat up, still staring at him in silence. Neji sat down again and crossed his arms. "Good…" Then they heard the maindoor open and close.

"We're back!" Everyone looked towards the door but didn't say anything. Hinata came to the door and looked nervously at them. "Wh…Why are you all just… sitting there? Do you think th..at this is b..boring?" Shino stood behind her holding 2 bags.

"…It looks like they are having a good time…" Hinata looked at him.

"B… but they are just sitting there… staring at me…." Shino walked towards the kitchen.

"… I guess they have missed you, Hinata…" Hinata looked into the living room and bowed.

"I'm sorry that this is boring…"

"You don't have to worry, Hinata-sama. They are having fun…" Neji glared a little at the others to tell them to smile towards her. They started to smile and nodded, and Hinata looked a little more nervous.

"B… but Neji-niisama… why are they just sitting there?" Neji looked pleased.

"I call it discipline."

"B… but Neji-niisama… They don't look like they're having fun…"

"They are! Right, Naruto?" Naruto nodded, but didn't say anything, and Hinata looked a little worried, but not at Naruto.

"Why… aren't they saying anything, Neji-niisama?"

"They are! Right, TenTen?" TenTen smiled and nodded.

"Yes, we're just playing a game. It's called 'talk and you're going to get zapped'." Hinata looked at her and blinked a little.

"Oh… I see. I'm sorry I disturbed you…" She bowed a little and walked out to the kitchen. Shino had begun to fix some new food. She walked up to him. "Shino-kun… I... I can do that…" He looked at her but continued to arrange a bowl of salad.

"…We're team-mates… And team-mates help each other…"

"Ye..yeah… b..but it's my house… and you're a guest…"  
"…Are you saying that I not can help you in a way that pleases you?..."

"D…do you really wants to help me? You're a guest and…"

"…I won't say it again…"

"If… you really want to, you can help me…" Hinata started to boil some rice.

"… I did not ask you for permission…"

"O…okay… Thank you, Shino-kun…" She looked a little at the rice boiler, before looking at him and bowed.

"… I only help my team-mate…" Hinata didn't know what to say, so she just started to prepare the meat. She heard how Shino was doing something at his corner but didn't look towards him. She didn't want to interrupt in his cooking in any way. She actually didn't even know that he could cook… It was a little shocking that he could, because he, Kiba and Kurenai-sensei always had let her do all cooking when they were at missions. Maybe he couldn't cook but only wanted to help her. That was nice of him, but why did he want to help her? He had never done something like that before, and he had followed her to the store too. Could it be that he…? She quickly shook away the thought and continued with the meat. She took forth a frying pan and put it on the stove. She hoped Chouji wouldn't come again… That wouldn't be so good… "…Can you tell me where I can find the spices…" Suddenly Shino stood beside her and she jumped a little by the surprise. She looked at him.

"Sh.. Shino-kun… you scared me…"

"… My apologizes…"

"It.. It's okay… Wh... what did you want?"

"…Where can I find the spices?..." She pointed at a shelf.

"Th.. there…" Shino nodded and walked over to the shelf and examined the different jars.

"…I notice that you have many different kinds of spices, Hinata…"

"Y..yeah.. are you looking for something special?"

"….salt…and pepper…" Shino took one jar and read on it. Hinata walked to the shelf and took down two jars.

"Here, Shino-kun.." She gave the jars to Shino, who examined them.

"…Thank you, Hinata…" She smiled a little.

"Don't think about it, Shino-kun…" Shino looked at her a little before quickly turning away and going to his corner again. She looked after him, wondering 'what's with him?'. Maybe he had a stomach-ache or something. Yeah, it must be like that, she thought and returned to the stove. After a while the food was almost done and she opened a cupboard and started to take down plates. She counted how many she needed. "Lets see… It's Shino-kun, Kiba-kun, Naruto-kun, Sakura-san, Ino-san, Chouji-kun, Shikamaru-kun, Lee-kun, TenTen-san and Neji-niisama… Is it someone more?"

"…Hinata…" Shino said from his corner, still preparing his salad. Hinata looked at him.

"Excuse me, Shino-kun?"

"…You forgot yourself, Hinata…" Shino looked at her over his shoulder, pointing at her with a piece of cucumber. Hinata blushed a little.

"That's true… Thank you Shino-kun…" She picked down one extra plate, still blushing for some reason. She walked out to the dining room and started to make the table. Shino came with the bowl that contained his salad and he put it on the table before he looked at Hinata.

"…What can I do more? ..." She still blushed, and continued to make the table.

"You… can… go and tell the others that the dinner almost is ready…"

"… You do not want me to help you make the table? …" Shino stood and observed her.

"… Y..You can do that if you want to…" She blushed a little more. He walked up beside her and took a couple of plates to put them on the other side of the table. She started to put the cutlery besides the plates, still blushing. She could feel how Shino observed her and it resulted in her blushing even more. She got nervous and dropped a fork on the floor. "Oh…" She bent down to pick it up but also did Shino which caused that their hands touched. Hinata blushed more and pulled away her hand. "S…sorry…" Shino picked up the fork and gave it to her.

"…Your fork…" She took it and stood straight up, still blushing.

"Th..Thank you, Sh..Shino-kun…" He also stood straight and put his hands in his pocket.

"…You are welcome…" Hinata looked down, not saying anything, still blushing.

"Is the dinner ready, Hinata-sama?" She heard Neji enter the room and she looked up at him.

"A..Almost, Neji-niisama…." Neji noticed that she was blushing very much and he turned to Shino.

"What did you do to Hinata-sama?"

"….I gave her a fork…." Shino looked at Neji. Nejis eyes twitched and he clutched his fist.

"And why is she blushing like that then?"

"…. I do not know…" Neji turned to his younger cousin and watched her a while. Hinata still blushed and looked down again.

"It's nothing, Neji-niisama… I've just been around the stove too much…"

"I really hope so…" He walked out to tell the others that dinner almost was ready. Hinata turned to the table again and continued to make the table, blushing a little lesser. Shino also continued at the other side. When they were done with that, Hinata walked into the kitchen to get the food. Shino followed her.

"…Shall I help you to carry? …"

"I…if you want to…" Hinata avoided looking at him. He nodded and walked up beside her.

"…What can I take? …" Hinata pointed at a big bowl of potatoes.

"T..that one…" For some reason she couldn't look at Shino, she only stared at the meat. She didn't know why, but she was extremely nervous when he was close to her. She didn't understand it at all. She took the bowl of meat and started to walk to the dining room, trying to not blush anymore. This slumberparty was supposed to be fun, and she shouldn't feel nervous while she was around Shino. She put the bowl on the table, and started to walk into the kitchen to get the rice. On the way, she bumped into Chouji.

"Is the dinner ready now?" She blushed more and bowed a little.

"I'm sorry that I bumped into you, Chouji-kun… And the dinner will be ready soon…" Chouji clapped his hands.

"Yay! I'm super hungry!"

"That's good…" She bowed again and walked into the kitchen. She hoped she had done enough food. She really hoped so, because Chouji could eat really much.


	2. Flirty dinner

Chap 2 – Flirty dinner

Lee had started to count all the books in the bookshelf.

"23, 24, 25, 26, 37, 38…" TenTen sighed.

"Lee… It's 27 and 28…" Lee looked at her before starting to count on his fingers.

"25, 26, 27, 28… You're right, TenTen!"

"Of course, Lee…" She looked weird at him, but on the inside she thought that he was so cute when he did like that. Lee looked up at the books again and continued to count.

"Where was I? Oh yeah… 28, 29, 30…" TenTen smiled and just wanted to hug him, but didn't.

"What's the point of counting the books?" Lee stopped counting and looked at her.

"…Well… Someone has to count them… right?"

"Eh… maybe…"  
"I mean… Wouldn't the books feel very much unappreciated if no one knew how many they were?" Lee turned to the books again and watched their backs.

"It's just books, Lee…" TenTen walked up beside him and looked at the books too. Lee took down one of them and opened it.

"But they have their own life; you know… each one of them have a new story to tell…"

"Books can't think…" She patted his shoulder a little. Lee continued to look down at the book and flipped page.

"How can we be sure, TenTen?"

"They don't have a brain, Lee…" Lee looked a little sad at her and then at the book.

"But…But…"

"It's just a book…"

"…Have you nothing else to talk about? I mean… Books? Geez…" Shikamaru sighted from his sleepingbag.

"Shikamaru, it's rude to interfere in peoples conversations.." Ino glared at him a little. Shikamaru thought it would be too troublesome to look at her so he didn't.

"It's rude to wake someone up by talking about books… What a pain…"

"It's almost dinner, so it was good that you woke up.." He sighed loudly.

"…How troublesome…" Ino just rolled her eyes and sighted.  
"No, Akamaru! Don't chew on that!!" Kiba ran after Akamaru, who was holding an expensive looking pillow in his mouth. Akamaru didn't care about Kiba; he just hid under one of the sofas, still holding the pillow. "AKAMARU!!! If you don't listen to me, I'll.." Kiba laid down on his stomach and tried to reach the dog with his hand. Akamaru moved closer to the wall, and looked at Kiba, whining a little, saying that he liked the pillow. "It's not your pillow!! It's Hinatas familys! Do you want her father to castrate you? 'Cause that is exactly what he'll do if you destroy it!" Akamaru whined really loud and let go of the pillow. Kiba managed to grab it. "Good dog…" Akamaru just whined aloud again. Kiba tossed the pillow at one of the sofas and held out his hand for the dog. "Come, Akamaru… Dinner's soon ready." Akamaru shook his head and whined again, saying that he was scared. "I'll protect you, Akamaru…" Akamaru whined some more, but crawled to Kibas hand. When he reached it, Kiba dragged him out and held him in his arms. "He won't castrate you, Akamaru. You didn't destroy the pillow so much…" Akamaru licked Kibas face, whining a little. He patted the dog before he walked to the dining room. Everyone else walked into the dining room too, where Hinata put the last bowl of food on the table.

"You.. can take your seats now.. I hope that you'll enjoy the meal…"

"… Is it a special sit-order or can we sit as we please?" TenTen asked.

"I've made small notes with your names… Find your name and sit down there…" Hinata smiled a little and sat down on her seat, but her smile got weaker when she saw that Shino had switched so that his note where next to her. It was just a little scary. She blushed a little and moved her chair a little further away from Shinos. When he sat down, she looked the other way. " I h..hope you all find your se..seats…" Shino looked at her.

"… I think that they will…" Hinata got really nervous and looked a little towards him, but looked away as quickly. She felt a little weird and blushed a little more.

"Y..yeah…" When everyone sat down she stood up and looked around, still blushing. "W..Well… We can all eat th..then… I hope you'll enjoy it…" She swallowed hard before she continued. "I did this meal.. with help from Sh… Shino-kun…"  
"Can Shino cook?!?" Kiba sounded extremely surprised and Akamaru barked to agree. Hinata nodded, still blushing.

"Y..Yes… Apparently he c...can… "

"That's a shocker." Kiba looked shocked at Shino who just sat there and looked at Hinata. Hinata felt Shinos look, and blushed more, as she sat down.

"Now you can start to eat…"

"ITADAKEMASU!!!!" Chouji shouted before attacking the food. Hinata looked nervous at him.

"Ch..Chouji-Kun… Pl..Please don't eat it all…" Kiba, who sat beside him, slapped him in his head.

"Yeah, leave some for us!" Chouji looked at Kiba.

"But I like food…"

"SO!? Hinata have spent all evening to make this meal for us so you should show some damn respect!" Kiba glared at him and Akamaru did the same. Hinata looked even more nervous.

"Please d..dont fight… I've done plenty of food…"

"…Do not worry, Hinata…" Shino said as he passed her the bowl with the salad he had made. She took the bowl, blushing.

"o…Ok…" Shino then did something unbelievable and smiled.

"…I did my best with the salad…I hope it will please you…" Hinata blushed more, and didn't really know what to say.

"I… I'm sure of that it'll be delicious…" Shino smiled more before he took some rice and put it on his plate.

"… I hope it is…" Hinata still blushed really bad while she put some salad on her plate, not saying anything. Neji sat on the other side of the table and watched them, trying to control himself so he wouldn't zap Shino. He didn't like that Shino flirted with his cousin. It was inappropriate; didn't he understand that Hinata was a member of the Hyuuga head family? That she was the Heir? He felt the urge to zap him grew bigger. It was his duty to protect Hinata from anything, including teenage boys.

"..you, Neji?" He heard that someone was talking with him and he looked at his left side.

"Excuse me, I didn't hear that…" Ino sighed loudly.

"I said: You don't like Shino, do you, Neji?"

"No, I don't like him at all." Ino took some salad.

"I can see that. Looks like you're going to kill him any minute…"

"I'm trying to stop myself from it…" Neji glared at Shino again. Ino rested her elbows on the table and observed him.

"What have he done to you?"

"He hasn't done anything to me, but if he does anything to Hinata-sama, he's dead…" Neji clutched his fists.  
"Do something to Hinata?" Ino looked towards Shino and Hinata.

"Cant you see his look?" Neji stopped himself from zapping Shino. Ino smiled a little and turned to Neji again.

"Ooh… He likes Hinata… Are you jealous?"

"No, I'm not! She's my cousin!" Neji glared at Ino.

"So you just want to protect her? You don't want her for yourself?" Ino took some of the potatoes and passed the bowl to him. He took the bowl.

"Why would I want her for myself?!" Ino shrugged her shoulders and took a little piece of meat.

"I don't know. But this means you're free, right?"

"…. Yes…. Why do you ask?" Neji looked a little weird at her. Ino smiled more.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. So, what are you going to do about Shino?"

"... I'm going to make sure of that he won't get alone with Hinata-sama again!" Ino poured up some water in her glass.

"So, you're going to spend a lot of time with Hinata? Want some?"

"Yes thank you… And I don't like what you're insinuating…" Neji held up his glass towards her. She poured up some water for him.

"I'm not insinuating anything. I'm just curious…"

"I'm just going to protect Hinata-sama…" Ino put down the jug of water and looked at him.

"How manly. Protect your little cousin…" He looked weird at her again.

"...Ok? It's my duty…" Ino smiled and rested her elbows on the table again.

"You would do anything for your duty? Like a samurai?" Neji nodded.

"Yes. As long I live, it's my duty to protect Hinata-sama." Ino rested her head on her hands.

"Wow… Hinata sure is lucky…"

"What?" Neji looked at Ino. She sighed a little dreamy.

"It's so sexy with a man that'll do anything to protect someone…"

"…Sexy…?"

"Yeah… Don't you know what that is?"

"I know what that is."

"Then why do you ask?" Ino turned to her plate again and ate a little.

"Because I don't understand you…" Neji turned to his plate and looked at his potatoes.

"I just said that it's sexy when a man would do anything to protect someone.."

"… Why do you think that?"

"It's every girls dream to have a boy that'll do anything for them. And it's like the stories about the samurais… It's so… "Ino looked far away.

"…. It's so sexy?" Neji didn't understand the weird girl. She nodded and sighted a little again.

"I wish I could have a boyfriend like that…"

"Good for you…" Neji looked towards Shino and Hinata again, just to see if Shino did anything inappropriate. Ino looked at him again, giggling a little. He looked at her. "What?"

"I just think Hinata's lucky… Too bad you're cousins, huh?"

"… What do you mean with that?"

"But maybe not... Maybe it's good you're cousins…"

"Why is that good?" Neji didn't understand the weird girl at all. Ino smiled and activated her charm.

"Would you have something against spending the evening with me?"

"… What?" Neji looked shocked at her.

"I mean, if you aren't spending the evening with Hinata, only watch her, would you mind spend it with me?" Ino twisted her hair around her finger.

"… No… I don't think that I would mind that…" Neji just said it because he didn't know what to do. Ino smiled even more.

"Lucky me…"

"Yeah…." Neji turned to his plate again.

"Can you pass the potatoes? He heard someone on his right side ask. He passed the potatoes to the person, while he looked towards Shino and Hinata again. Hinata was still blushing and Shino was saying something to her. She blushed more and answered him, and Neji stopped himself from zapping Shino. He had to take care of the problem before it would go overboard. Hinata was the heir over the Hyuuga, and she couldn't be with an ordinary boy. No one lower than another heir was good enough. And that Aburame boy wasn't an heir. He was just an ordinary boy, not worthy his cousin. Neji stood up and looked at Hinata.

"Hinata-sama, can I talk to you in private?" Hinata looked confused at him but stood up too.

"S..sure, Neji-niisama…"

"Good… Come now, Hinata-sama…"Neji walked out to the living room. Hinata followed and poked with her fingers.

"Wh…What do you want to talk to me about, Neji-niisama?" Neji crossed his arms and looked at her.

"What's going on between you and that Aburame boy?"

"No…nothing is going on…" She blushed even more, just because he even asked.

"Are you sure? I don't like how he's looking at you."

"I am sure that nothing's going on… We're just friends…" Neji just looked strict on her. She looked down. "We…We're just team-mates…"

"His eyes tell that he wants to be more… And you must remember that you're the heir and that only another heir is good enough for you…" Hinata still looked down and didn't know what to say. "Remember that Hinata-sama…" Neji started to walk back to the dining room. Hinata stood in the living room, thinking about what he had said.

"Shino-kun….want to…be more..?" She couldn't believe it. "But… It's Shino-kun…" She felt her heart beat faster for some reason. "… Shino-kun… would never…" She closed her eyes. "He can't… No…"


	3. Flirty dinner 2

Chap 3 – Flirty dinner 2

"Do you want something else, Sakura-san?" Lee had now passed everything there was to pass to the slightly tired Sakura.

"No… It's just fine…" She smiled a weak smile towards him. Lee smiled back.

"Ok, but if you want something, you just have to tell me."

"Ok… I'll…" Sakura ignored that TenTen glared a deadly glare towards her.

"Do you think books can think, Sakura-san?"

"What?" Sakura looked weird at Lee.

"You know, every book have a different story… so they are all different… But can they think? Feel sad if we forget them and so…"

"I don't think that books can think… or feel sad..." Lee looked down at his plate, looking a little sad.

"Oh…ok…"

"Why do you ask?"

"No… I just thought about it…"

"Ok…" Sakura looked at her plate and ate a little salad. Lee sighed a little for himself before he began to count all the bowls on the table.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5…" Sakura looked at him.

"Why are you doing that, Lee-san?" Lee didn't look at her; he continued to look at the bowls.

"I thought that someone has to know how many bowls there is…"

"I bet that Hinata knows how many bowls it is…"

"Yeah… but Hinata-san isn't here right now…"

"But I bet she'll be back soon…"

"Akamaru!! Get down!!" Akamaru then ran over their plates so their food fell down on their knees. Sakura stood up and screamed.

"AHH!" Lee stood up too and began to try brush away it from her and Kiba stood up and rushed after Akamaru.

"AKAMARU!!!!" Akamaru ran over some more plates before he took a big piece of meat and hid under a cupboard. Kiba threw himself on the ground and tried to reach him. "I SWEAR I'LL CASTRATE YOU!!!" Akamaru crawled further in and growled a little. Kiba growled back and tried to move the cupboard. "Don't you growl at me!! I'm your master!!!" Akamaru growled more and crawled up the wall. "NOW YOU'RE IN DEEP SHIT, AKAMARU!!!" Kiba stood up and looked around before he found a broom. He was just about to use the broom when he got a potato in his head.

"You shouldn't do that in this house." He turned around and glared towards the table.

"Who threw it?!" No one answered. He raised the broom, looking crazy. "WHO!?" Neji stood up.

"I did, and I recommend you to put that broom down" Kiba stared at Neji, remembering that he could zap people, and he put down the broom, without saying anything. "Good, now sit down at your seat and shut up." Neji sat down again. Kiba quietly sat down on his seat. Neji began to eat, while staring at Kiba. The Inuzuka just stared down at his plate, not saying nor doing anything. Neji began to stare at Shino instead, still eating. Shino sat also quiet and looked towards the door, as if he was waiting for Hinata to return. Neji frowned and was going to zap Shino when Hinata came into the room and sat down next to Shino. He stopped himself, thinking that he had to control himself as long as he was in the Hyuuga head family house. He would deal with the Aburame later. Right now he should just try to enjoy the slumberparty. And he would apparently enjoy it with the Yamanaka girl… He turned towards her. "So…How do you feel tonight?" She smiled a charming smile towards him.

"I'm just fine… How about you?"

"I'm getting tired of all the indiscipline so I decided to just enjoy the evening. But that doesn't mean I will accept anything though…"

"What won't you accept?" He looked a little towards Shino then at Ino again.

"I won't let a certain someone do as he pleases…"

"Oh… I understand… But… Can we others do as we want?" Ino leaned a little closer, still smiling. He looked weird at her and leaned a little from her.

"I won't let anyone destroy the house either…"

"Beside that?"

"No, I can't think about anything else right now…"

"Ok… So… What're we going to do after dinner?"

"How should I know? It's not my slumberparty… It's Hinata-samas…" Neji sighed a little, thinking it was a stupid question.

"I didn't ask what everyone was going to do; I asked what we're going to do…" Ino smiled her most charming smile. What was this girl thinking anyway?

"I don't know…"

"You can't think of anything?"

"What do you want to do?" Neji actually felt like cleaning the mess up.

"Oh, What I want to do?" She smiled more. Was he supposed to run for his life?

"Yeah… I asked what you wanted to do…"

"I want to go somewhere privet, where we could be alone…" Nejis eye twitched a little.

"….Where we could be alone….?"

"Yes… Of course…" Ino smiled her most charming smile again, while twisting her hair a little. He didn't know what to think about her, why had he started to talk to her again?

"…And why is that…?"

"What do you think?"

"…discuss politics?..." She shook her head, still smiling and twisting her hair.

"No, not that…" Neji thought a while.

"…Are you by any chance flirting with me?"

"Yeah, isn't that obvious?" Neji looked at little weird at her, why would he want to be with her? She blinked a little towards him, still twisting her hair. "Who wouldn't flirt with a hottie like you?"

"…hottie?..." What could he possibly gain from follow her little 'game'?

"Yeah… I've been checking you out for some time now…"

"…checking…me out?"

"Yeah… You're the hottest guy in all of Konoha…" Was he supposed to enjoy this?

"…I am?... Wait… You liked Sasuke, like every other girl."

"Pfft, Sasuke, he's just a no blow when compared to you." Maybe he should try to enjoy it, just for tonight, so he smiled towards her.

"Really?" She smiled back.

"Yeah. You're so hot, that I could melt here and now.." He leaned a little closer.

"That was a bad one…"

"Yeah, but you make me a little nervous…" She leaned a little closer too. He took her hand and stood up.

"I can show you a room where we can be alone…" She stood up, and smiled.

"You can?" He nodded and dragged her to a room that lay at the far end of the corridor and he closed the door after him. She smiled even more towards him and put her hands on his shoulders. "So.. now we're all alone…" He put his arms around her waist, thinking that he could at least enjoy himself a little without feeling bad about himself.

"It seems so, huh?" She leaned a little closer.

"All alone…." He pulled her a little tighter, looking at her with his white eyes.

"Yes, we are…" She gave him a little kiss on his cheek.

"I've waited for this moment…"  
"You have? ." He stroke her cheek a little, thinking 'only today'.

"Yeah… I have…" She looked into his eyes, thinking 'wow, he's soo hot! I can't believe that this is happening to me!'. He leaned closer and brushed his lips against her.

"I haven't noticed though…"

"I didn't know how to show it… But I have…" Neji smiled a little before he kissed her, pulling her closer, still thinking 'only today, tomorrow I'll just ignore her..'. Ino kissed him back, thinking 'OMG! He's kissing me! I can't believe it!!'. He pushed her towards a wall, still kissing her. She closed her eyes and laid her arms around him, still kissing him back. He moved his hands towards her chest, wondering how far she would let him go. She didn't stop him, she just pressed herself a little closer to him. Neji thought that he had nothing to lose, since he wouldn't care about her in the morning, so he just continued. She blushed a little when he started to touch her breast, but still didn't stop him. She still thought it was amazing that he kissed her. She had dreamt of this for so long, and now it was happening! **The **Neji, the strongest genin there was, the hottest guy in all Konoha was kissing her. And he was a good kisser too, it felt like she was going to melt in his arms. She ended the kiss, taking deep breaths. "Where did you learn to kiss like that?" He smiled.

"I don't know… Maybe I'm born with it…"

"How many girlfriends have you had? You must be experienced.."

"Girlfriends? Not one actually…" He kissed her neck.

"What? Hyuuga Neji hasn't had a girlfriend? Are you one of those who go for 'one-night-stands'?"

"I haven't been so interested in girls until now…" He put his hand under her shirt, still kissing her neck. Ino blushed even more, but didn't stop him; she just closed her eyes, not believing her ears.

"You're serious?" He looked at her with his white eyes.

"Are you insinuating I would lie?"

"No… I just can't believe it…" She opened her eyes and looked at him. Neji thought that he couldn't believe himself, but he pushed the thought away since he was going to enjoy himself. And he did quite enjoy having a girl he could touch and kiss as he wanted for one night. He smiled a little before kissing her again. She kissed him back and pressed herself even closer to him. They could hear how Kiba began to yell at Akamaru and Neji felt an urge to go and zap him once for all. But he didn't, because Ino pressed herself even more to him, as she knew what he was thinking. She weren't letting him go now when she finally got to be alone with him. She had waited for this for so long, and she didn't want the moment to disappear away from her. They heard how also Naruto began to scream and Neji looked towards the door. Ino realised that she had to do something to keep him with her, and then put her hands under his shirt, and caressed his chest and stomach. "Neji… you're so muscular…" Neji looked towards her again.

"…Not especially…" She smiled, and touched his arms a little.

"You are… And I think that it's sexy…" Now also Lee and Chouji had begun to scream and Neji felt the urge to go and zap them grow bigger.

"…you don't say?..." Ino put her arms around him again, and held him tight.

"I think that it's really sexy…" Neji looked towards the door again, hoping the idiots wouldn't destroy the house, since it was hard for him to enjoy anything if they screamed and demolished the residence. When he finally had decided to have a little fun and to enjoy himself, he didn't want to be disturbed. He gently pushed Ino away from him, still looking at the door.

"I have to take care of them…" Ino put her hand on his arm.

"But… What about me?" Neji looked at her, thinking that he really wanted to be with her a little more but he couldn't allow indiscipline. "Will you come back when you've punished them?" She looked at him with her green eyes. He took her hand from his arm.

"…I will…"

"Promise?" Neji walked to the door and opened it.

"Don't you trust my word?"

"I do… I'll be waiting right here…" Ino sat down on a sofa, and smiled charming towards him. Neji walked out and closed the door before storming to the dining room.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!" Everybody froze and stared at him. He walked so he stood in the middle of the room. "I SWEAR I'LL ZAP YOU ALL WITHOUT HESITATION IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP AND SIT QUIET!!!" Everybody rushed to their places, and Hinata looked nervous at Neji.

"B…But Neji-niisama… they were just enjoying themselves…" He turned to her and glared a little at her.

"They are screaming and soon they'll destroy the house, Hinata-sama!"

"O…okay… I understand…" Hinata looked down.

"If they destroy the house, I'll have to explain it and it won't be fun!" Neji glared towards the others. They nodded to show that they understood what he said. So he turned to Hinata again. "Can I trust that you keep the situation under control, Hinata-sama?" She nodded.

"Ye...Yes, Neji-niisama…"  
"If I have to come back again, I'll have to punish them! And I'll start with him!!" Neji pointed towards Shino, who hadn't done anything.

"Why… would you start with Sh…Shino-kun, Neji-niisama?"

"If you question me, I'll do it right now…"

"I... I'm sorry…." Hinata bowed a little, still sitting down.

"Good… Now behave! I don't want to be disturbed!!" Neji marched out again. He walked back to the room, and Ino looked at him, still sitting on the sofa.

"Have they learned their lesson now?" Neji closed the door after him.

"I sure hope so; otherwise I'll kill them…" Ino smiled a little.

"So they won't disturb us again?" He walked to the sofa and stood in front of her.

"I hope so… or I'll kill them…." She stood up, still smiling.

"That's good…" Neji looked at her awhile before gently pushing her down on the sofa again.

"Really?"

"Yes.. It is…" She looked up at him. He still stood up in front of her, smiling a little. She just looked at him, waiting for him to do anything. She wasn't so bad looking, Neji thought, smiling a little more. "What are you smiling about?" He just smiled, thinking that he could enjoy himself without being disturbed now. "Neji?" Ino looked at him with her big, green eyes. He still smiled when he leaned over and kissed her after putting his hand on her cheek. She kissed him back, thinking that this was her lucky day. Neji was actually had come back, and now kissed her. She had dreamt about this, and she had never thought that it actually would happen. Neji stopped kissing her and stood straight up again.

"Are you enjoying this?" She nodded.

"Yes, of course… Don't you?" Neji smiled a little again.

"Yeah… I am."

"That's good…" Ino smiled a little too. He smiled more and observed her.

"How far are you ready to go?"

"How far?" She blinked a few times. Neji crossed his arms.

"Yeah… How far?" She smiled her charming smile.

"All the way…" Neji still had his arms crossed, wondering if she was serious. She looked at him. "What about you?" He thought that he only wanted to enjoy himself.

"What do you think?"

"All the way too?" He only looked at her with a look that said 'Do you even have to ask?'. She smiled. "Ok…" Neji wondered if all girls were this easy, and still stood in front of her, looking down at her. She stood up and put her arms around his neck. "So… Should we enjoy each others company?" He put his hands on her hips.

"Maybe we should…" She smiled before she kissed him. He kissed her back, while starting to pull up her shirt. She let him do that, while she opened his pants with one hand. Neji smiled a little, thinking that it was way too easy to enjoy yourself. She really was an easy girl. It was almost tragic. But he didn't protest, he was just going to enjoy himself, and then ignore her. Did that make him an easy boy, if he just took first best girl to enjoy himself? He didn't know, and he didn't care. And after all, she had been the one flirting with him, he just used her to enjoy himself. Ino ended the kiss, just so that they could take their shirts of, and then kissed him again. They heard a noise from the living room but Neji didn't care. This was far more interesting than some noise from another room. He stopped kissing her and pushed her down at the sofa again. "You're really ready to go all the way, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm ready…" She looked at him, smiling a little. He sat down at the sofa beside her and stroke her cheek a little. She then sat on his knee, facing him. "I'm so ready anyone can be…" He looked up at her, smiling a little.

"Good." She smiled a little too and kissed him again. He pulled her closer, thinking she was really a very easy girl. She caressed his chest, thinking that he was so hot, and she was lucky to be his first, and to have him as her first. It really was her lucky day. She started to pull down his pants, hoping that he wouldn't protest. Neji didn't protest at all, he even helped her. She started to take her own pants of, still kissing him. And her heart was beating like crazy. She put a hand on Nejis chest to check if his heart was beating like that too. It was beating fast and she felt pleased. It showed that he enjoyed this as much as she did. Neji then placed his hands on her panties and began to pull them down a little. She helped him to take them of, and started to pull down his boxers. He smiled a little, letting her doing it all by herself, thinking she was a good girl to enjoy himself with. He maybe could do this with her some more, if he didn't could find anyone else to do it with. But he wouldn't be her boyfriend, no way. Then Ino started to touch him down there, still kissing him. His eyes widened a little and he felt how he became warm all over. He hoped that no one would come, because he didn't want her to stop, and it would be a little embarrassing to be found naked with Ino. If they did, they would probably believe that he was in love with her or something, and that was not true. He just wanted to enjoy himself, that was it. And since Ino was such an easy girl, she was a perfect way to enjoy himself. Ino ended the kiss and looked down.

"… I can see that you're a big boy…" Neji smiled a little.

"I am, aren't I?" She looked up again and smiled a little too.

"Yeah… a really big boy…"

"You have someone to compare me with, or what?"

"No… Not really… But still… It looks like it's bigger…" Neji smiled a little and pulled her closer, kisser her neck a little. She pressed herself closer to him. "Let's do it…" Neji smirked a little.

"You're free to start…"

"Ok…" She sat so that it got inside her, and slowly started to move a little. Neji thought she was way to easy, way easier than what's healthy for a girl. But he didn't care too much, he just enjoyed it.


	4. Random

Chap 4 - Random

Kiba was sitting in a corner, trying to find a way to punish Akamaru without Neji to zap him. If he could do it without doing to much noise… He looked around and his eyes stuck on a piece of meat. He looked at it for a while, thinking hard. Maybe he could put a lot of pepper on it and then make Akamaru eat it. It could work… He stood up and walked to the meat and grabbed a jar of pepper. He put pepper on the meat, and looked after Akamaru.  
"Akamaru…. I have a treat for you…" He whispered and began to look under the cupboard. Akamaru wasn't there. "Akamaru…" He continued to search the room and Hinata looked a little worried at him.

"Kiba-kun? What are you doing?" Kiba didn't look at her; he still looked under all the furniture's.

"I wanna give Akamaru a treat for being such a good dog…."

"B…But I thought that dogs shouldn't eat meat with pepper on…" Kiba turned around and glared at her.

"Thanks! Now you've destroyed everything!"

"What?" Hinata looked both confused and nervous. Kiba didn't answer her, he just marched out the room, and Hinata looked even more nervous. "Oh my… I did something wrong, didn't I…"

"I don't know… By the way, do you know where Ino is?" Sakura said, while looking around. Hinata looked down and shook her head.

"…My slumberparty is a disaster…" She felt like crying, but didn't, because she couldn't cry in front of her guests. She then felt someone put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at Shino.

"…I like it, Hinata..." She blushed a little, and quickly looked down again.

"But… it's a disaster…" Shino patted her shoulder a little.

"…I still like it…"

"… Th...Thank you, Sh…Shino-kun… But… Why do you like it? No one else do…" Shino didn't say anything and he slowly took away his hand from her shoulder. She looked at him, still blushing. "Shino-kun?" She saw that Shino blushed a little too.

"…Well… I enjoy your company, Hinata…"

"Wh…what?" She blushed more.

"…I said that I enjoy your company…"

"Y…You do?" She looked down again, thinking about what Neji had said.

"…Yes… You are a nice friend, Hinata…" Then Shikamaru entered the room, sighing loudly.

"Why is everyone so troublesome?" Shino looked towards him.

"…Who is troublesome? …"

"Everyone… I can't find a silent place to sleep in… how troublesome…"

"…I'm sorry, Shikamaru-kun…" Hinata said with a low voice.

"Why are you apologising? There's no need for that… You can just tell me where it's silent and so…" Hinata stood up and thought a while.

"Well… we have a nice little room in the basement…"

"Can I sleep there?" Shikamaru yawned a little. Hinata nodded and began to walk towards the stairs leading to the basement.  
"If you don't mind that it's not as warm as up here…"

"I don't care, as long I can sleep…" Shikamaru followed her. They walked down the stairs and Hinata walked to one of the doors to open it.

"I…It's not much, but I hope it pleases you, Shikamaru-kun…"

"It will probably do…" Shikamaru yawned again. She opened the door and walked into the cosy little room that even had a made bed.

"Maybe I should get new sheets…"

"I don't care… Thank you..." Shikamaru walked to the bed and lay down. She blushed a little.

"B..But, those sheets haven't been changed in 2 weeks…"

"So? I don't care..." Shikamaru looked at her.

"..B..but…" Hinata looked down, being ashamed that she hadn't changed the sheets earlier this day.

"No buts… I don't care… that's too troublesome…" Hinata still looked down.

"…Do you wanna sleep here all night or should I come get you later?"

"Do as you want…" Hinata bowed a little.

"I…I'll get you when it's time for the evening meal…."

"Ok…" Shikamaru said and began to snore. Hinata looked at him a while before walking out and closing the door.  
"Shikamaru-kun sure is tired…" She started to walk up again. "He is always tired…" When she came up she bumped into Lee.

"Oh, Hinata-san!! Do you think books can think?" She bowed a little.

"I'm sorry that I bumped into you Lee-kun… And I… Don't know what I think in that case…" Lee looked sad at her.

"Oh… I see…" She looked nervous at him.

"Did I say something wrong, Lee-kun?" He slowly turned away and walked towards the living room.

"…No… I just realized that no one agrees with me…" Hinata followed him.

"Have you asked everyone?"

"… Almost… "He walked to the books and looked at them and sighed.

"Almost?" He took down one of them again.

"I haven't asked Neji or Ino… And Shikamaru refused to answer…He thought it was too troublesome…"

"Oh… But I'm sure of that someone have to agree with you…" Lee opened the book a little.

"No… I guess it's stupid of me to believe something like that…"

"No, it's not… Go and Find Ino-san and Neji-niisama, they might agree with you…" Hinata wanted to cheer him up, so that she could do the same with the rest of the guests. Lee shook his head.

"Neji-kun would never agree with me…"

"But Ino-san might do…" Hinata smiled a little. Lee shook his head again.

"I don't think Ino-san likes me so much… She always looks angry at me when I talk to her…" Hinata looked sad at him.

"Ok… That's rude of her…" Lee smiled a little, even though his eyes looked sad.

"I shouldn't ask people stupid things, should I?"

"It isn't stupid to have your own theory about things…" Lee looked at her.

"It isn't? You don't think it's stupid of me to believe that books can think?"

"No, I don't think that it's stupid of you, Lee-kun…" Lee smiled big.

"Thank you, Hinata-san! You're the first that have said that!"

"Don't think of it, Lee-kun. I'm just saying the truth…" Lee smiled even more and turned to the book again, starting to read it. Hinata walked to the dining room to pick up the dishes. But when she came there she saw that someone else already had done it. "What…?" She looked a little confused. She walked to the kitchen and saw that Shino was washing up the dishes. "Shino-kun? Why…" Shino turned to her and looked at her a while before turning to the dishes again.

"…I thought I would help you…"

"B…but... You're a guest… Why are you helping me so much?" Shino continued to wash the dishes.

"…Do you not want my help?..." Hinata didn't like when he asked that, because she didn't know what to answer.

"I do… But you're a guest…"

"… I want to help you…"

"Why do you want to help me, Shino-kun?" Shino didn't answer at first so Hinata walked so she stood beside him. "Shino-kun?" She looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"…Well… I… want you to appreciate me…" Shino blushed a little, still looking at the dishes.

"What…?" She blushed a little too. He turned towards her, looking at her behind his glasses.

"… I want you to appreciate me, Hinata…"

"But… I… Why?" Hinata didn't know what to say. Shino looked at the dishes again.

"…Because… I would feel happy if you did…"

"O…Okay… But… I appreciate your help…"  
"…Do you appreciate me?..."

"Y…you?" Hinata blushed a little more. He nodded.

"…me…"

"I… I don't know…" Shino looked down.

"…I see…"

"I… don't really know what you mean, Shino-kun..." Shino didn't say anything more, he just continued with washing the dishes. "Shino-kun? What do you mean?" He didn't look at her, nor did he answer her. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Shino-kun?"

"… Do you like being around me…. Or do you just think that I am scary?"

"… I don't think that you're scary… You're my friend… And team-mate… "

"… A team-mate…yes…" Hinata looked a little nervous.

"Did I say something wrong now?" Shino did the last of the dishes.

"..No…Not at all…It is true, what you said…"

"Sh..Shino-kun… Do you… Do you want to be more..?" Hinata couldn't believe that she just said that. Shino began to blush more and looked at her.

"…What did you ask…?"

"I… just wonder…" She blushed more too, and looked down.

"… I want you to appreciate me… And like being around me…"

"Why, Shino-kun?" Hinata still looked down.  
"… I appreciate you… and I like to be around you…"

"Y…You do?"

"…Yes…Why would I not? You are a very nice girl, Hinata… " Hinata blushed even more.

"Th…Thank you…" Shino smiled a little, still blushing but didn't say anything. Hinata didn't know what to say, so she just stared at the kitchen floor.

"Have any of you seen Akamaru?" Kiba came into the kitchen, looking around for his dog.

"No… I haven't seen him, Kiba-kun…" Hinata looked at him, still blushing. He looked at her a while before turning to Shino.

"Have you seen him?" Shino just shook his head. "Man… Mom'll kill me if I lost him…." Kiba muttered as he walked out again. He kicked on a little table that stood in the hallway and walked down to the basement, still muttering. "Akamaru! It's not funny!" He shouted and put his hands in his pockets. He looked in every room in the basement, but couldn't find Akamaru anywhere. He only found a sleeping Shikamaru. He muttered a little and walked up again. "Akamaru!!" He kicked a little at a door. "If you don't come you won't ever have a big, juicy meat bone again!!" No Akamaru came. Kiba kicked another door. "Akamaru!!" Still no Akamaru. Kiba kicked at the third door. "AKAMARU!!!" Still no Akamaru, but he could hear some weird sounds. "Eh?" He looked towards the third door. "What the…" He moved a little closer and put his ear towards the door. It was really strange sounds and he frowned a little. "What the hell…" He thought about opening the door to check what happened. He put a hand on the handle but then heard Akamaru bark in the living room so he rushed there. "AKAMARU!!" Akamaru saw Kiba and hid under one of the sofas again. "YOU'VE BEEN UNDER THE SOFA!?!" Kiba threw himself on the floor and glared at the dog under the sofa. Akamaru pressed himself towards the wall and growled a little. "WHY ARE YOU GROWLING AT ME!?!" Akamaru barked, saying that he just growled because Kiba were yelling at him. "I wouldn't have to yell if you hadn't hid yourself like that!" Akamaru barked again, saying that he only hid because he didn't want to get castrated. "I just said that because you didn't obey me! I won't castrate you! What do you believe of me?!" Kiba looked offended at him. Akamaru whined, saying that he didn't know. "Now you hurt my feelings… I thought we were best friends!" Akamaru whined again, saying that they were. "Then don't act like we're not… Come now…" Kiba held out his arms for the dog. Akamaru hesitated a little, but then crawled to Kiba. He picked up the dog and hugged him a little. "I'm sorry, Akamaru…"Akamaru whined a little, saying that he was sorry too.

"Are you going to eat that?" Chouji suddenly stood beside them and pointed at Akamaru.

"WHAT?!" Kiba looked shocked at Chouji.

"I asked, are you going to eat that?" He still pointed at the dog.

"WHY WOULD I EAT AKAMARU?!?!"

"Does that mean you won't eat him?"

"YOU CAN'T EAT A DOG!!"

"Haven't you heard about hot dog? We can try to put him in the oven…" Chouji looked hungry.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM US!" Kiba ran away from Chouji, holding Akamaru tight. Chouji looked after him.

"…I guess he's allergic to hot dogs…" Sakura, who stood a little bit away from him, sighed.

"No, he just didn't want you to kill his dog… By the way, have you seen Ino?" Chouji shook his head.

"No. Do you have anything to eat?"

"Nope, I don't…" Sakura walked away. Chouji whined a little.

"But I'm soooo hungry…"

"Why don't you go into the kitchen then" TenTen said, as she laid on her sleepingbag, reading a magazine she had found. Chouji looked at her.

"You know… That's not a bad idea…"

"Eh… I know… Geez…" Chouji rushed to the kitchen and TenTen sighed loudly. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one that's actually is using my brain…" Lee sat in a sofa by the bookshelf.

"We all have different theories about things, but none is stupid…"

"Yeah… That's true…" TenTen looked at him, smiling a little. Lee smiled back before looking down in the book again.

"I like this book…"

"What it's about?"

"It's about a man, believing he couldn't do anything, but he does more and more things through the whole story… Right now he has saved a whole village from a demon, without realising what he has done…" Lee looked fascinated while he turned the pages.

"Cool…" TenTen nodded, still looking at Lee. Lee looked at her and smiled big.

"You should read it too, TenTen."

"I should?" He nodded and looked down at the book again.

"It's really exciting!" TenTen smiled.

"I see… Maybe I'll read it when you're done with it."

"I'll read as fast as I can then…"

"No need for that Lee…" Lee didn't say anything more, he just read.


	5. Dessert!

Chap 5 – Dessert!

Sakura walked around and looked after Ino.

"Where can she be?"

"Sakura-chan!!!" Naruto jumped up in front of her and smiled foolishly.

"What?" Sakura sighed a little. Naruto still smiled.

"Wanna play cards with me and the other guys?"

"Nope, I'm looking for Ino…"

"But, Sakura-chan!!!" Naruto looked at her with begging eyes.

"No! I'm only going to play with you if you find Ino!"

"Why do you want to find her? I thought you thought she was an ugly pig girl…" Naruto looked a little questioning at her.

"Don't ask! Girlstuff!" Sakura glared at him.

"But… but… can't you play with us until Ino comes and ask for you…"

"Why do you want me to play? I don't even like playing cards, and you know that." Naruto looked down and kicked a little with his feet.

"… You are best when it comes to writing down the scores…" Sakura looked weird at him.

"That's a really weird reason…" Naruto looked up at her with big blue, begging eyes.

"Can't you play with us and write down the scores, please?"

"No! I don't want to!" Sakura started to walk away. Naruto grabbed her hand.  
"But, Sakura-chan, dattebayo…" She pulled away her hand from his and continued to walk.

"No." He jumped up on her back, clinging onto her as he whined.

"Sakura-chan…" Then she fell backwards.

"AHH!" Naruto made a weird noise when he got pressed to the floor by Sakuras weight. "Idiot! Why did you do that?" Sakura tried to get up. But Naruto still held onto her so she couldn't.

"..Sa…ku…ra-..chan…"

"What?" She still tried to get up.

"…Ple..ase… play…with…us…" Naruto still held onto her.

"No! Let me go!"

"…Sakura-chan, dattebayo…"

"Let go of me!"

"…oh my…" Hinata had came to tell them that they could come and get some dessert but she now stood and blushed while looking at them.

"What do you mean with that?" Sakura glared a little at her, still trying to get up. Hinata began to blush even more and looked down.

"..s…sorry…"

"Naruto! Let go of me now, or else!" Sakura turned her head and tried to glare at Naruto. But Naruto had passed out, when he couldn't breathe properly. Sakura managed to stand up and glared at him. "Serves you right, idiot." Hinata bowed a little, still looking down.

"T…there's dessert in the kitchen, Sakura-san…"

"Ok… Thank you..." Sakura walked to the kitchen. Hinata looked at Naruto a while.

"…Na….Naruto-kun?" He didn't react, he was still unconscious. Hinata decided that she had to serve the others before trying to wake him up so she walked to the kitchen again. Then she saw that Shino already had served the others. She blushed a little at thought that he really was helping her really much this evening. And she didn't really understand why. She walked up to him and took a plate for herself to have. "Th..Thank you, Shino-kun…" He didn't look at her, he just looked down.

"… I just want to help…" She looked down too.  
"..I…I appreciate it, Shino-kun…"

"… That makes me happy…" Hinata didn't know why but she blushed a little, and didn't know what to say. Shino took a plate too. "…Should we take our seats?..." She nodded a little, still blushing. They walked to their seats and sat down. And since it was a smaller table in the kitchen, they sat very close, which made Hinata blush even more.

"Hey, before we eat, where are Naruto, Neji and Ino?" TenTen looked at three empty chairs.

"Uzumaki is on the hallway floor, passed out…" Neji came into the kitchen and walked to get a plate. Ino came after him, and took a plate too.

"And I'm here."

"And I suggest Aburame move…" Neji glared at Shino who sat beside Hinata. Shino looked at Neji.

"…Why?" He dragged out the younger boy's chair.

"Cause I will zap you if you don't." Hinata looked nervous at Neji.

"B…But Neji-niisama… Don't b…be rude…" Neji still glared at Shino and took another chair and sat beside Hinata instead. Ino stood and looked around the table for a while, before sitting down in front of Neji. Sakura, who sat beside her, looked at her.

"Where have you been?"

"… On the toilet…" Ino didn't look at Sakura.

"…On the toilet?..." Sakura looked at her in disbelief.

"Yeah… on the toilet…"

"But I was on the toilet a while ago…" Chouji said after that he had finished his dessert. Ino glared at him, but didn't say anything. Shino still sat on his chair that was dragged out a far away from the table and he looked at Neji. He wanted to tell his bugs to kill him, but didn't, because then Hinata would get sad. He could take much, but not Hinata being sad. He started to look around the table to look after somewhere to sit. But the only places that was free was between Kiba and Chouji, and between Shikamaru and Lee… He didn't want to sit between any of them; he just wanted to sit next to Hinata. He sighed quiet for himself, he didn't like Neji. Neji was just disturbing. Why had Hinata invited him anyway? Why had she invited so many people at all? He wanted it to be only them, possibly Kiba too. Because Kiba wouldn't disturb as much the rest did. Kiba was usually most interested in to explore everything with Akamaru, so he wouldn't have been in the way. Shino glared a little at Neji, still feeling like killing him. Neji apparently felt it, because he turned around and glared back while moving a little closer to Hinata. Hinata looked nervously at them, hoping that they wouldn't start to fight. She didn't want anyone to fight or be angry; she just wanted a fun slumberparty… And she wanted everybody to have fun, so that they would be happy. She couldn't help herself from sniffing a little and both Neji and Shino looked at her. She stood up and bowed a little.

"Excuse me…"  
"Where are you going?" Neji looked suspicious at her. She didn't look at him, she just looked down.

"To the bathroom…" She bowed again before leaving the kitchen. She quickly walked to the bathroom and locked the door. "And that's because I can't cry in front of my guests…" She sat down at the toilet and hid her face in her hands. Everything was a disaster; no one enjoyed her slumber party, everybody just fought with each other. She had thought she could make a great one, but apparently she had been wrong. She was so bad at doing things, nothing she did turned out good. "Why can't I do anything right?" Her shoulders began to shake a little. "Why is everything I do turning to disasters?" She was such a bad person. The reason everyone was displeased was because she was such a horrible host. "They must hate me…" She whispered to herself. Her shoulders began to shake a little more. "I'm such a bad and horrible host and person…"

"I don't think you are, dattebayo…" She heard a voice from the other side of the bathroom. Hinata froze, and didn't say or do anything. Naruto came out from the shower and looked at her. "You shouldn't be so negative, Hinata, dattebayo…" Hinata still didn't say anything; she couldn't believe that Naruto had heard everything she had said. He walked to her and squat down before her. "And you shouldn't cry either, dattebayo…"

"I… I'm not crying…" She slowly said.  
"…You're not?..." Naruto put his finger on one tear that rolled down her cheek. She blushed and dried her tears quickly.

"No… I'm not…" Naruto smiled a little.

"You're just cleaning them or what, dattebayo?" Hinata didn't answer, she just felt ashamed. Naruto just smiling, actually thinking she had been cleaning eyes. "Wasn't it dessert now?" She nodded.

"Yes… It's dessert…"  
"Then what are we waiting for?" Naruto stood up and took one of her hands. She still felt ashamed, and blushed when she pulled away her hand from his.

"I… I'll be there in a minute…" He looked a little sad at her.

"But… Hinata… You're the host, right? And it wouldn't feel right without you…" She bit her lip and didn't say anything; she was such a bad host. "Hinata?" Naruto looked a little worried at her.

"I'm sorry…" She bowed a little, thinking that she should end this slumberparty, so the guests didn't have to stay anymore.

"Come on now! I have a bunch of games we can play after dessert, dattebayo!" Naruto smiled big and did a V-sign.

"I… think that I'll end this slumberparty… No one is enjoying it…" Hinata mumbled. Naruto looked devastated.

"WHAT, DATTEBAYO!?!"

"I'm sorry… Bu…but no one is enjoying this slumberparty…"

"… I am…this is the first slumberparty I ever been invited to, dattebayo…" Naruto looked really sad.

"It… it is?" Hinata looked at him. He nodded and looked at her with his blue eyes.

"… I was really happy when you invited me…but now you're going to end it even before we have slept…" She blushed a little and looked down again.

"Oh… Then… I won't end it…" Naruto looked a little hopeful at her.

"Really?" She nodded.

"Yes…" Naruto smiled big and couldn't help himself from hugging her.

"YAY!! You're the best, Hinata!!!" She blushed more.

"No… I… I'm not…" He began to jump around a little with her.

"You are, you are!!!" She blushed more, and didn't know what to do. He gave her a quick little kiss on her cheek before letting her go and rushed to the door. "Come on, let's have dessert!!" She got all red and just stood there. He unlocked the door and turned towards her, smiling big. "Come on!!"

"O…Ok…" She still blushed when she walked towards the door. Naruto jumped a little of excitement before opening the door and rushing to the kitchen. Hinata tried to stop blushing before she slowly walked after him. She saw how he jumped to the chair between Kiba and Chouji, smiling big and she couldn't help smiling a little herself. At least one was enjoying her slumberparty, and that made her very happy, especially when it was Naruto. She couldn't deny that she actually was a little happy that he had given her a little kiss. She put her hand on her cheek and smiled a little more as she walked back to her seat.

"Can I take another piece? Akamaru ate half of mine…" Kiba asked and Akamaru barked a little, saying that they actually were two that shared so they deserved another piece.

"Of course, Kiba-kun." Hinata smiled towards him. Kiba smiled big and jumped up to get another piece.

"Yahoo! Thank you, Hinata!!" She just smiled, and ate a little of her piece. Neji watched her, wondering why she was smiling and blushing so much. Then he looked towards Naruto, and wondered if the Uzumaki kid had done anything inappropriate to her. He was smiling too much too. Neji got an urge to zap him, but didn't. Instead he looked towards Hinata again. She was still smiling, and still eating. Sure, Neji wanted his cousin to be happy but he wanted to know exactly why she was so happy. If The Usumaki had done anything to her, he would kill him. He knew that Hinata had had a little crush at him when they were younger, but he didn't know if she still had. He hoped that she had got over it. Otherwise he couldn't let her near him anymore. It was his duty to protect her as long he lived. And he would do anything to protect her. Then Hinata looked a little at Naruto, and smiled a little more. His eye twitched a little and he felt like dragging Hinata away from there, but didn't. It would make the others wonder. He looked towards Naruto again, wishing he would die, right here, right now. If Naruto died, He would have one boy less to protect Hinata from. He looked around and counted the potential threats. It were five of them, he would have a hard time while protecting her. When they were about to sleep everyone in the living room he would make sure Hinata didn't sleep near any of them. He thought that she could sleep between him and Lee, because Lee wasn't a threat. Lee would probably fall asleep directly any way… But he would make sure of that the others didn't move their sleepingbags to close to Hinatas. Maybe he should tell them all that anyone that moved would get zapped… But he could say it later, after the dessert. He took a little piece of his dessert and thought Hinata really was good on cooking. She would become a great wife for her future husband.


	6. Playing games :D

Chap 6 – Playing games

After the dessert Naruto stood up on his chair.

"Now we have to play games, dattebayo!!" Shikamaru sighed.

"Why? It's too troublesome to play games…" Naruto glared a little at him.

"It's a slumberparty! We have to play games!!!" Shikamaru yawned big.

"I want to sleep… it's too troublesome to be awake…" Lee clapped his hands.

"I love games!!" Ino sighed.

"Oh please, games is for kids…"

"So? We are kids." TenTen said, glaring a little at her.

"I'm not a kid, you can be one if you want to, but I'm not." Ino glared back.

"You're younger than me!" TenTen glared even more.

"So? It's how mature you are that counts." Ino pointed at her head, still glaring back.

"SO? You aren't mature at all!"

"I am. You are the one who is immature."

"It's immature to think that games are just for kids! If you say something like that it only means that you're trying to act mature but in fact you're more immature than anyone!!"

"Yeah right… If you want to think that, go ahead, I don't care."

"Oh, shut up…" Neji sighed, getting sick of the conversation the two girls had. Ino looked at him for a while, before smiling a little.

"What ever you say…" Neji looked her a while before sighing a little and turning to Hinata.  
"What do you want to do, Hinata-sama?" Hinata looked at him, still smiling.

"Well… I think that we should play games, Neji-niisama…"

"What games?" Neji hoped she wouldn't say spin the bottle or something.

"… I don't know… Spin the bottle?" Hinata blushed a little, still smiling.

"…Really?..." She nodded.

"Yes…" Neji sighed again, thinking that he couldn't tell her that it was stupid, cause then she would become sad. Hinata looked at the others. "What do you think about playing spin the bottle?"  
"…What's that?..." Lee looked confused, since he loved games but hadn't heard about that particular game. Hinata blushed a little more.

"Well… you take a bottle and spin it, and if the bottle points at a person from the other gender, you've to kiss that person."

"ok… but if it's pointing at someone from the same gender? What happens then?"

"Well… You have to… ask the person a question and the person must answer and tell the truth… " Lee nodded.

"I see…How fun!"

"So we're going to play it?" Hinata asked, hoping that they would, so she maybe could get to kiss Naruto…

"… I can get a bottle…" Shino stood up and walked to get a bottle, hoping he would get to kiss Hinata… Neji didn't say anything; he just thought that he wouldn't kiss Hinata if the bottle pointed at her. And he would make sure no one kissed her too much, a little kiss on the cheek was as far he would let them go. If they tried to kiss her on the mouth, he would kill them. He hoped they understood that. He glared a little at each boy in the room, just to show them that he was going to protect Hinatas first kiss. The others looked a little weird at him and Hinata stood up.

"L..let's go to the living room…" Everyone walked to living room, and they sat down in a circle. "Who should start?" Shino put the bottle in the middle.

"…I can start…"

"Ok, Shino-kun starts." Hinata smiled towards Shino. Shino looked at her a while before spinning the bottle. Everyone watched the bottle, waiting for it to stop. Shino crossed his fingers in his pockets, hoping it would stop at Hinata. He really wanted to kiss her. He really, really wanted to kiss her and when the bottle stopped he wasn't sure he wanted to check who it had stopped at. He had to check, but he was afraid of that it wasn't pointing at Hinata.

"You're really slow, Shino…" Kiba sighed, pushing his head towards the bottle so he could see it. It wasn't on Hinata, it was on TenTen. Shino began to cry inside.

"Come on Shino, Kiss her!" Naruto pushed Shino towards TenTen, who didn't look too happy. Shino sighed a little on the inside, looking at TenTen.

"…If you do not mind…"

"Does it have to be on the mouth?" TenTen asked Hinata. Hinata thought a while, trying to remember what the teen magazine had said.

"I… think so…" Neji glared at her.

"No, you don't have to kiss on the mouth!" Hinata looked confused.

"But… The magazi… the rules are like that…"

"But I decide that you don't have to kiss on the mouth!"

"But… But… The rules…." Hinata was really confused, and didn't understand why Neji acted so weird. Neji thought he wouldn't let anyone kiss Hinata on her mouth. "Neji-niisama… The rules say that you have to kiss on the mouth…"

"I won't let someone lower than another headfamily take your first kiss." Neji said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Hinata blushed a little.

"But… But…"

"No buts! You're the heir!" Neji crossed his arms. Hinata got silent and looked down. "So sure, everyone else can follow the rules, but you aren't going to kiss anyone on the mouth!" Hinata nodded quietly. "So, Aburame, kiss TenTen and let's get over with it." TenTen whined inside her head when Shino leaned forward to kiss her. Shino gave her a quick kiss before he quickly moved back to his seat. TenTen looked at the bottle.

"It's my turn now, right?" Hinata nodded quietly. TenTen spinned the bottle, hoping that it would point at Lee. He was the only boy she wanted to kiss, anyway. She closed her eyes and prayed a little. To Allah, God, Jehovah and Shiva. And the rest of the gods. The bottle stopped and she opened her eyes. It pointed at Lee, and she got really happy. Lee looked at the bottle and then at TenTen.

"…oh…" TenTen felt like jumping around of happiness, but didn't, she just crawled to Lee and looked at him, smiling a little. Lee began to blush a little. "…it pointed at me…"

"Yeah... It did…" TenTen smiled a little more, blushing a little too. He blushed more.

"…so we have to…"

"Yeah…" TenTen moved a little closer to him. Lee began to blush even more when she softly kissed him. TenTen blushed more too, and wrapped her arms around him, feeling happier than ever.

"… how long are they going to kiss?" Chouji asked, thinking that maybe TenTen overdid it. Shikamaru sighed.

"I don't know… and I don't care…It's too troublesome…" Lee went all red when TenTen just kept kissing him. He didn't know what to do, it was so confusing. Why did TenTen kiss him so much when Shino hadn't kissed her so much? He didn't understand at all. It was getting a little scary… Then TenTen ended the kiss, and returned to her 'seat', blushing very much. Lee, who was blushing even more, just stared shocked at her and Naruto sighed.

"Hey, Fuzzy Eyebrows, it's your turn, dattebayo…" Lee didn't do anything, he just stared at TenTen, who blushed more and looked down. "YO, Fuzzy Eyebrows! It's your turn!!"

"Oh… Yeah…" Lee spinned the bottle, still blushing really bad. This was really a weird game, nothing like hide and seek. He didn't understand it, it was just plain… weird… The bottle stopped and he looked who it pointed at. "Oh… Neji-kun…" Neji looked a little relived over that it had stopped on him, and not on Hinata. "I should ask a question now right?" Hinata nodded.

"Yes… And Neji-niisama has to say the truth…"

"oh… Why are you so angry all the time, Neji-kun?"

"What the hell is that for kind of a question?!" Neji looked irritated at Lee.

"Couldn't I ask anything?"

"I'm angry because its so much indiscipline everywhere!" Neji crossed his arms and turned away his head.  
"..ok.. Your turn, Neji-kun!" Neji spinned the bottle and glared at it. He didn't want to play this game. It was just childish. He didn't even know why he had joined. Then the bottle stopped and he looked after at who it had stopped on. He sighed a little when he saw who it was. It was on Ino, hadn't he kissed her enough tonight? It was such a pain. He sighed again while he moved to her and kissed her. He quickly ended the kiss before moving to the seat beside Hinata again. Ino looked a little weird at him before she spinned the bottle. She had actually wanted him to kiss her longer. He was such a good kisser. And he had kissed her a lot before but now he just sighed. She didn't understand him… And she didn't want to play this game, what if she had to kiss someone ugly. Like… Lee, or someone. She shivered a little before looking at the bottle that had stopped.

"…No way…" It had stopped on Kiba, who made a face.

"Do I have to kiss the pig girl?" He made a disgusted face and moved away a bit. "How disgusting!!" Ino glared at him.

"Shut up! Do you think that I want to kiss an ugly mutt?!"

"You don't have to kiss yourself at least!!"

"Shut up and kiss each other." Neji glared at them. Kiba pointed at Ino.

"I don't wanna kiss that disgusting pig! Maybe the bottle pointed at Akamaru! But not on me!!"

"Kiss her or I'll zap you!" Neji glared even more.

"I'm not supposed to kiss her! It was **her** bottle that pointed at **me**!" Kiba began to point at the bottle instead. Then Ino moved to Kiba and kissed him, just to make him shut up. The Inuzuka kid became all red and pushed her away. "Ewww!!"

"I agree..." Ino made a disgusted face when she moved back to her place. Kiba tried to dry his mouth from the disgusting Ino bacillus.

"Ewww, ewww, ewww!!!" Neji glared at Kiba even more.

"Stop that and spin the fucking bottle before I zap you!" Kiba looked at him with a terrified look.

"wait… You kissed Ino… and Ino kissed me and… EWWWW!!!"

"I'LL ZAP YOU!" Kiba spinned the bottle, still making very disgusting faces.

"eww…eww….eww…"

"Shut up, or it'll go zap!" Kiba went all quiet, still making faces. The bottle stopped and everybody hoped that it would stop on a guy. But it stopped on Hinata. Hinata began to blush.

"Oh…" Kiba felt a little relieved since Neji didn't allow anyone to kiss her on the mouth. He didn't want to kiss anyone again, it was way too disgusting.

"Just a kiss on the cheek then, right?" Hinata nodded, a little disappointed over that she wouldn't get any real kisses.

"Yes, Kiba-kun…" He crawled to her and gave her a little kiss on the cheek. She still blushed, and Neji glared a little at Kiba, just to make sure of that he didn't do anything more. Not that he thought he would, Inuzuka just seemed to think it was gross. And that was good.

"Now it's your turn, Hinata." Kiba went back to his seat. Hinata spinned the bottle, hoping for that it would stop on Naruto. And if it did, she would kiss him on the mouth no matter what Neji said. Neji couldn't punish Naruto if she did it, because she would be the one who kissed him. She closed her eyes, and prayed a little prayer.

"Please… please…" She whispered very very low. When she opened her eyes the bottle had stopped. "…oh my…" It had stopped on Naruto, and she blushed more, thinking 'YES!!!'. She blushed a little when she moved to him, feeling Neji glaring at her. She ignored it and looked at Naruto. He looked back.

"Hi, Hinata!" She blushed more when she leaned forward and kissed him on his mouth.

"AHH!! STOP THAT!!" Neji stood up and rushed to them and pulled away Hinata. She still blushed when she looked at him.

"Why, Neji-niisama?"  
"YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO KISS A LOW STATUS BOY LIKE THAT!!! YOU'RE THE HEIR, GOD DAMMIT!!"

"So? I don't care; I don't want to be the heir. I just want to be an ordinary girl." Hinata felt very confident for some reason. Neji glared at her.

"I don't care what you want! You're the heir no matter what you want!!!"

"What if I decide to not be the heir anymore?" She glared back.

"YOU CAN'T!!!"

"Why not? Why can't I decide over my own life?"

"You're the heir and you have to fulfil your duty!! Just like I have to fulfil my!"

"I don't want to be the heir! I would prefer to be in the branchfamily!"

"Well, I would prefer to be in the headfamily, but we can't change our fate, can we?!"

"No, but you can at least let me do as I wants to!"

"NO! It's my duty to protect you!!" Neji glared even more.

"I shouldn't have invited you! You're just overprotecting!" Hinata glared more too.  
"I just think about your best!!!!"

"My best? You don't let me do anything! How can that be my best?" She crossed her arms. "Or are you only caring about what's best for the headfamily? Don't want me to dishonour it?" Everybody in the room started to feel uneasy, when Hinata glared even more at Neji. "Is that what it is? The headfamily before everything, right?" Neji just glared angry at her, not saying anything. "Right? That's what you're thinking, right?" She glared angry back at him.

"…I have to protect the headfamily…It's my duty…"

"And your duty is higher prioritised than your cousin's happiness, right?"

"Duty has nothing with happiness to do."

"Like I said; the headfamily before everything. It's pathetic!"  
"…You that are in the headfamily would never understand…"

"No, I will never understand. And I will never understand how it feels to be happy! Or how it feels like to be able to do whatever you want!" Neji turned away his head, not knowing what to say. "I will never understand how it feels to be an ordinary girl that actually has a family that cares about her!" Hinata got teary eyes, but still glared at Neji.

"… I care about you…"

"No you don't! You only care about the familys honour and your duty!" Neji turned around and walked to the door, where he stopped.

"… I'm sorry I've displeased you…Hinata-sama…"

"Don't worry, I wont tell my dad that you did." Hinata looked at him with really angry eyes. Neji stood in quiet a while, feeling a little bad. Hinata turned away, not saying anything.

"…I guess I go too far… when I try to protect you, Hinata-sama…"

"Yeah, you do!"

"… I'm sorry, Hinata-sama… I won't trouble you anymore…" He opened the door and walked out. Hinata didn't seem to care, she just stood there. The others looked down, feeling very troubled. It wasn't like Hinata to act like that, and it never is fun to witness family fights. The first one who said anything was Lee.

"Why did Neji-kun leave?"

"Because he felt ashamed over that Hinata yelled at him in public." Sakura said, thinking that it had been a little fun to see a boy like Neji getting yelled at from a girl like Hinata. It was nothing that happened everyday. Then Hinata walked out of the room, towards her room. Shino looked after her, wanted to follow her, but he was afraid she would yell at him too. They could hear how she opened and closed a door, and then it got all quiet. The others just sat there, trying to figure out what to do. Then Naruto stood up.

"I think someone should go and comfort Hinata, I think she's crying…" Kiba looked at him.

"Well, you shouldn't go… You'll just make her cry even more…"

"I will?" Naruto looked confused.

"You will…"Kiba sighed a little and looked down at Akamaru who whined.

"Why?" Naruto didn't understand.

"You're Naruto for gods sake!"

"So? I'll go and comfort her anyway." Naruto began to walk out of the room. Shino then walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"…I will…"

"Why you?" Naruto looked confused at Shino.

"… We are team-mates…" Shino walked pass him.

"But… you don't care about others…"

"… That, you do not know…" Naruto just looked weird at Shino, still confused. Shino ignored him and walked to Hinatas room and knocked on the door. "….Hinata…"

"What?" Her voice was low and sad.

"… Can I come in?..."

"Why?"

"…you are sad… and you should not be alone when you are…" Hinata didn't answer, and he could hear how she sniffed. He knocked a little again. "… Can I enter the room…"

"If you really want to…" She sniffed again. Shino carefully opened the door and walked in, closing the door after him. Hinata sat on her bed, hugging her knees. He looked sad at her and walked to the bed. "…Hinata.."

"What?" She didn't look at him. He sat on the edge of the bed.

"…Do you want to talk about it?..."

"About what?"

"…you are sad… I can tell…" She didn't answer him; she just hid her face at her knees. Shino felt bad, he was really bad at situations like these. Hinata sniffed again.

"I just wanted to have a fun slumberparty… But it turned out to be a disaster…" Shino moved a little closer and put his hand on hers, trying to show that he cared about her. "Everything I do turns out to be disasters…" She sniffed again.

"… That is not true, Hinata…" Shinos heart ached when she sniffed.

"It is… I can't do anything right…"

"… You can… Neji is just being bothersome… He was the one that made everyone uneasy…"

"No… it was me… I was the one who… who…" Hinata couldn't finish the sentence, because she couldn't believe that she actually had kissed Naruto.

"…You did not do anything wrong…" Shino tried not to think about what she had done.

"I didn't do as Neji-niisama told me…that's why it turned out like this…"

"…He has no right to decide over you…"

"He has…He's older than me… And he's my guard…"

"…if he is…he is overdoing it…"

"No… he's just doing his job… and I'm just ungrateful…" She sniffed, and hugged her knees harder. Shino took her hand and squeezed it a little.

"… no, Hinata…"

"I am…" She sniffed again.

"…No, Hinata… you have the right to decide over yourself… And if you want to… Kiss…Naruto…you can…" Shino felt a little sad when he said the last. Hinata looked up at him with teary eyes.

"But… I'm the heir, and I can't dishonour the family…"

"… What is important… is that you feel good… If you are sad…the family does not matter…" Shino wanted to dry her tears but didn't dare to, since she apparently still was in love with Naruto.

"They'll punish me if I dishonour the family…" She looked down.

"… I will not let them… You have the right to be happy…"

"You can't stop them…" She sniffed.

"… But tonight you can do anything, Hinata…."

"I can?" She looked up again. He nodded a little.

"…Yes… Your family is not here… You can do anything you please…"

"No… They'll find out sooner or later…"

"…Who would tell them?..."

"I don't know… Someone…"

"… I will make sure no one will…. I promise…"

"Thank you… But…are the others still here?"

"…Yes… They are in the living room…. Naruto too…." Shinos heart hurt really badly when he said the last, but he knew it would make her happy.

"N…Naruto-kun?" Hinata blushed a little. Shino nodded a little, looking down.

"….Yes… He was worried about you…"

"He….He was?" Hinata blushed more.

"…Yes…" Shino felt very sad, and wondered why she hadn't blushed when he came and was worried about her.

"B... But why didn't he come too then?"

"… I am sorry… I told him I would go… I should not have done that… I know you wanted him to come…, not me…"

"What?" Hinata looked confused at him. Shino stood up; his heart was aching really badly.

"…I will go and get him…"

"Why?"

"… I know you are in love with Naruto… I also know you would feel happier if it had been he who had come…" Shino walked to the door. Hinata began to blush really much.

"B…but… I don't care…"

"… Do not lie, Hinata…" He put his hand on the door handle.

"I'm not lying…"

"…You would have been happier if he had come…"

"…. Maybe a little… But I'm happy that you came too…" Shino didn't hear the last, all he could hear was the first and he opened the door and walked out.

"…I am sorry…" He closed the door and walked to the livingroom. There he walked up to Naruto, but looked down. "…. Go to Hinata…"

"What?" Naruto looked confused.

"… Just do it…" Shino said before he walked away again. Naruto still looked confused as he walked to Hinatas room. He walked in, without even knocking.

"Hi, Hinata! How is it, dattebayo?" Hinata looked down at the floor, still blushing, when she saw him.

"It… it's… I don't know…"

"You don't know, dattebayo?" Naruto sat down beside her.

"N… no… I d…don't…" She shook her head a little, blushing more.

"It was wrong of Neji to do that to you…He's a pain, dattebayo…"

"Y…you think?" Hinata looked quick at him, before looking down again.

"Yeah. You should be able to do what you like. And calling me a low status boy.." Naruto crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry that he called you that…" Hinata bowed a little, still sitting down.

"You shouldn't apologize because he's a jerk." Naruto looked at her.

"Bu…but it was because of me… he called you that…" Hinata blushed more.

"How can it be because of you, dattebayo!"

"I… I ki…ki…kissed you…" Hinata blushed even more.

"So? We played spin the bottle…"

"But… He told me not to kiss anyone… Because it was my… my first kiss…"

"It's kind of cool I got it though, dattebayo. Sorry I couldn't give you mine though…"

"Wh…what?" Hinata looked at him, still blushing bad.

"I mean… I kissed Sasuke before, and it was disgusting!! So it was cool to kiss someone that's not disgusting, dattebayo." Naruto smiled a little.

"Y..you think that it was cool?" Hinata blushed more.

"Yeah! And to be kissed by such a nice girl too." Naruto smiled even more.

"N…Nice girl?" Hinata blushed even more.

"Yeah, dattebayo!" Hinata just blushed more, not knowing what to say. Naruto just sat beside her and smiled.

"Th…Thank you…" Hinata mumbled after a while.

"Thank me?" Naruto looked a little confused.

"For thinking that I'm a nice girl…"

"Oh, but you are. You're always so nice and you're great at cooking… and do you know what?"

"What?"

"You have very soft lips!" Naruto pointed at her lips and she went all red.

"I… I…have?" She put one hand over her mouth, not believing what he just said. He nodded and moved a little closer.

"Wanna kiss me again? Neji can't disturb it this time, dattebayo…" She got redder.

"Wh… what?"

"You don't want to? Aww…" He looked down, being a little disappointed.

"I… I want to… But… but… why do you want to… kiss me?" She looked at him, still blushing really, really much.

"… Well… You're such a nice girl… and I feel so happy around you..." He scratched his blonde hair a little.

"Y... you do?" Hinata couldn't believe what he said, it was so unreal.

"Well… yeah, dattebayo… And you're the first to ever invite me to something like this…"

"Oh… I invited you because… Because… I…I'm… in lo…lo…" Hinata couldn't finish the sentence. He turned to her and looked at her.

"You're in lo?"

"I'm in lo… love with you…" Hinata blushed more than ever and looked down, not believing that she just had confessed to him.

"…oh…." Naruto didn't know what else to say.

"… I'm sorry…" Hinata closed her eyes, still blushing more than ever.

"Don't be sorry… I just never thought anyone would be in love with me…"

"But… I am…I have… been in lo…love with you for a long time…" Hinata blushed more, wondering why she said it; he wasn't in love with her, and he would never be.  
"…oh…Do that means you want to kiss me…" He moved a little closer and took her hand. She nodded.

"Y…Yes…" Naruto smiled a little and leaned closer to her.

"I want to kiss you too, dattebayo…"

"Y…you do?" She opened her eyes again and looked at him. He smiled a little more before kissing her a little. She blushed even more, but kissed him back a little. It was like a dream coming true. She almost couldn't believe it; it had to be a dream, or a joke or something. Naruto stopped kissing her and held her hand hard.

"Thank you so much for caring about me…" Hinata didn't know what to say, she just looked down again, and squeezed his hand. "You're the only one who has…" He rested his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. She squeezed his hand again.

"No… I don't think so, Naruto-kun…"

"…Everyone just thinks I'm a pain…"

"I don't…" He smiled a little, still resting his head at her shoulder.

"Thank you, Hinata… You are so nice, dattebayo…"

"Th…Thank you, Naruto-kun…" They didn't notice the bug that had been on Hinatas shirt and that now flew out the room. It flew to Shino, and landed on his finger. He looked down at it as it reported what it had seen and heard. His heart ached really much when his bug was done reporting.

"…I see…" He sat down, resting his back against the wall. "…I never had a chance…" He closed his eyes. "…She will not ever stop loving him…" He was sitting down in the basement; he didn't want to see anyone or anyone to see him. "… No matter what I do for her…" He felt like crying. "… She will not ever love me…" He dragged up his knees and hugged them, not caring about if he looked pathetic, because he already felt so pathetic. "…how could I ever even think the thought that she maybe would if I tried my best to please her…" He hid his face at his knees. "… I am such a fool…" His heart was aching so much that he thought it would explode. "…I am not good enough…" He bit his lip hard. "… And I will never be good enough…" He then heard someone coming down the stairs but he didn't care. He just wanted to die.

"Hey… Why are you sitting here?"

"…go away…"

"Why?" The person squat down in front of him.

"…I want to be alone in my sorrow…" Shino didn't look up.

"Alone… in your sorrow?"

"…go away…now…."

"Nope, I won't… It's not good to be alone when you're sad…" Shino pulled up his knees even more, but didn't say anything. The person put its hand on his shoulder. "Why are you sad?"

"… I do not want to discuss it…"

"You sure?" He slowly nodded, thinking he just wanted to fall asleep and never wake up again. He would prefer hell before seeing Hinata, knowing that she was in love with an other boy. Thinking that he would never be good enough made him begin to cry, even if he didn't want to. "Are you crying?" The person sounded a little shocked, and a little worried. He shook his head a little, wondering why he cried, he wasn't supposed to be someone who cried. "You are crying… Why are you crying? What have happened?"

"…go away…"

"No, I wont…" Shino shook his head.

"…go away… I do not want any company…"

"Nope, I won't leave. I can't leave you alone when you're sad." Shino kicked out with one of his legs.

"GO!"

"Ouch! What was that good for? Geez!"

"GO AWAY!" Shino glared at the person. The person, Sakura, glared back and stood up.

"I'm just worried, Geez! You sure are ungrateful and rude!" Shino looked down again with tears rolling down his cheeks.

"…I am…"

"But why are you crying?"

"… I am not good enough… no matter what I do…" Shino didn't know why he told her.

"Good enough for what or who?"

"… Hinata… I have tried to do everything to please her… but…"

"But…?" Sakura squat down in front of him again and put her hand on his shoulder again.

"…I can never be good enough… Naruto makes her happier…"

"Oh… But have you told her that you like her?"

"…I told her that I thought she was a nice girl and that I really appreciated her… but she said herself that Naruto made her happier…"

"She maybe didn't understand what you said… You maybe should tell her again…"

"… It does not matter… she and Naruto is kissing in her room…"

"They are?" He silently nodded. "Oh… So Naruto likes her too, or what?"

"… He had said that she was a nice girl and that she made him happy…" Shino didn't want to talk about it anymore, it hurt too much.

"Oh… I see…" Shino hid his face and cried even more. Sakura put her arms around him and hugged him. "If it feels better to cry, then cry…" For some reason it felt better when she hugged him, and he cried towards her shoulder. She stroke his hair a little. "So… So…"

"… I actually thought… maybe she would begin to like me… when I did all those things for her…"

"You couldn't know that she still was in love with him… And you tried at least…" He grabbed her shirt.

"…Why am I not good enough?..."

"You are… she just don't see you that way…"

"…I am so pathetic… To her… I am nothing but a team-mate…

" You're not pathetic… Not at all…" Sakura stroke his hair again.

"… I am… I am not supposed to show my feelings…"

"You're not pathetic and everyone wants to show their feelings sometimes…"

"…I just want to die…"

"You do?" He nodded and held her shirt even harder.

"…I put everything I had on one card…and I lost…"

"Then you play again, until you win something…"

"…I have nothing left… just my worthless life…"

"It's not worthless… not at all…"

"…it is…I can never win her…"

"Your life isn't worthless, and you'll find someone else. It's not just one fish in the sea."

"…I am not good enough for anybody… I am just a scary boy filled with bugs…"

"I don't think that you're scary, so I bet that there are more girls that don't think that you're scary." Shino didn't say anything, he just held her shirt. "Shino… You'll find someone who'll love you for the one you are…"

"…no…"

"You will…"

"…I do not love myself…no one else will either…"

"Don't say that… You family loves you, and your friends love you…"

"…no… I am not good enough…stop trying to cheer me up…"

"Don't be depressed… You will find someone…" He just shook his head. "You will, trust me…"

"…how can you be so sure?..."

"There is a soulmate for everyone…"

"…my soul mates are my bugs…"

"No… It's bugs…"

"...No one can be my soulmate…"

"Someone are your soulmate, you have just not met her yet…"

"…I will never meet her…" Sakura stroke his hair again.

"You will, believe me… You will meet her…" Shino just sniffed a little. Sakura held him a little closer. "Don't cry… It'll be okay…"

"… It does not feel like it will…"

"It will… Believe me, it will…" He just sniffed a little again. Sakura stroke his hair again, not saying anything. For some reason, Shino felt calmer when she did it, and soon he stopped to sniff. "Does it feel better now?" He quietly nodded. "Do you want to go up to the others, or do you want to sit here some more?"

"… I do not want to see the others..."

"Okay… then we'll stay here…" She stroke his hair again, to show him that she would stay with him.

"… You do not have to stay…"

"No one should be alone when they're sad…" Shino didn't know what to say, so he just sat quiet. "So I'll stay here with you…"

"…but…"

"But what?"

"…You should go to your friends…"

"No, I won't leave you alone here…"

"…I am used to be alone…"

"That's not good…"

"… I do not mind it…"

"I won't leave you alone… its not good to be alone…" Shino felt like thanking her but he just shook his head.

"… I do not mind to be alone…"

"You should, it's not good for your mental health to be alone, especially when you're sad…"

"… Mental health?..." She nodded.

"Yes, your mental health…"

"… I have my bugs…"

"It's a big difference between humans and bugs…"

"…They always keep me company… They are my friends…"

"You should get more human friends…"

"… I have my team-mates…"

"Yeah, that's good… but that's only two…"

"… It is hard to get friends… I do not talk much… especially not in big crowds…"

"But you can start in small crowds, like on this slumberparty…"

"… I have not anything to say…"

"Talk about yourself, and ask the other person about themselves, people loves to talk about themselves."

"… I will maybe try…" It was scary that he actually had talked so much with Sakura already.

"You will make it." Sakura looked at him and smiled a little. He looked at her a while but then looked down.

"…Thank you…"

"No probs. Shino. I'm sure of that you'll get a ton of new friends!"

"… Will you be my friend..." Shino couldn't believe that he actually had asked her. She nodded, still smiling.

"Yeah, of course!"

"…Thank you…I appreciate it…"He tried to bow a little, but it's a little hard when you're sitting down.

"Do you want to go up now or should we stay here a little longer?" Shino didn't know what he wanted so he just shrugged his shoulders a little. "You don't know?"

"…no…"

"Ok… Then we'll stay down here until you know." Sakura still smiled, as she moved so she sat next to him. Shino looked a little at her, wondering why she cared so much. Sakura just smiled as she leaned to the wall, looking at the ceiling. He looked up too, still not understanding why she cared. It was a little weird and unusual. But for some reason he felt a little happy that she did. "So… What should we do later you think? I mean… The spin the bottle game wasn't a success…" Sakura looked at him.

"... It really was not…" Shino sighed a little, thinking that he had been forced to kiss TenTen instead of Hinata. Sakura sighed, thinking that she hadn't got to kiss anyone.

"Yeah… So what do you think that we should do?"

"… I do not know… "

"What do you think about truth or dare?"

"… Maybe… I have never played it…"

"Ok… Then this'll be the first time, if we play it."

"…Yes…Maybe we should go and give the proposal to the others…" Sakura nodded and stood up.

"Yeah, let's go!" Shino slowly stood up too. Sakura started to walk up the stairs. "Come on, Shino!" He followed her.

"…I am coming…" She smiled towards him, before continuing to walk up. It was so weird that Sakura smiled so much towards him, no one else used to. Shino felt a little confused. They came up and Sakura walked to the livingroom.

"Come on, let's play truth or dare!!"

"…. What?" Ino looked at her.

"Spin the bottle didn't work, so let's try truth or dare."

"Shouldn't we get Hinata and Naruto then?" Shino felt a sting in his heart and looked down. Sakura looked at him, and then started to walk towards Hinatas room. "I'll get them!"

"…How troublesome… truth and dare…" Shikamaru sighed from his sleepingbag.


	7. Truth or dare?

**A/N:**

**Kansani: They use Yen here, Not dollar or anything '**

**Kurokon: ...**

**Kansani: Boring sis... makes me do all the work... mutters**

Chap 7 – Truth or dare?

Sakura knocked on Hinatas door.

"Excuse me." She heard a noise and Hinata then opened the door, blushing.

"Y…yes, Sakura-san?" Sakura smiled a little, thinking that she knew what they were doing in there.

"We're going to play Truth or dare, and we thought that you two should join too."

"O..Ok…." Hinata still blushed. "I… I'll ask Naruto-kun what he thinks about it…"

"Well, come to the livingroom when you're ready." Sakura walked back to the livingroom. Hinata walked back into the room, and closed the door after her.

"Naruto-kun… They want to play truth or dare… Should… we join them?"

"What do you wanna do, Hinata?"

"I… I don't know…" She looked down at the floor.

"Do you like truth or dare? I've never played it, dattebayo."

"Well… Um… I don't know… It depends on what you have to do or what kind of question you have to answer on…"

"You can decide, dattebayo…"

"B..But… I can't decide… you can decide…"

"I don't really care which…"

"O…Ok… But… wouldn't it be rude of us not to join them? Or should we just… ignore them?"

"What do you think?"

"I… don't know… What do you think?" Hinata looked at Naruto.

"Well, I don't care so we do whatever you want…" Naruto looked back with his blue eyes. Hinata began to blush and looked down again.

"I… I… would… like to stay here with you… if… you don't mind… Naruto smiled big as he stood up and began to walk towards her.

"I would like that too."

"Y…You would?" She blushed more. He stopped so he stood in front of her.

"Yeah, dattebayo!"

"Really?" She looked up a little at him. He smiled and walked a little closer.

"Yeah." She blushed more, and didn't know what to say.

"Oh… Th…Thank y…you…"  
"I like to be with you…"

"You do?"

"I do."

"I like to be with you too…" Naruto smiled and stroke her cheek a little. She blushed more. "Naruto-kun… Weren't you in love with Sakura-san?"

"That was before…"

"So you're not in love with her anymore?" He shook his head.

'"No…"

"Oh… Ok…" Hinata felt a little happy, because it could be a little chance that he liked her instead. Maybe this slumberparty wasn't such a disaster after all. "Naruto-kun… Have… you started… to like someone else?" She slowly asked.

"Well… I think so, dattebayo…"

"Oh… Ok… and… who is that?" She hoped that it was her.

"A shy little girl, with white eyes, dattebayo…"

"Wh… What?" She began to blush even more.

"Didn't you hear me? I said: a shy girl with white eyes."

"Are… you serious?" She looked at him, blushing bad.

"… Why don't you trust me?"

"Do… you mean me?"

"…Isn't that obvious?" Naruto was a little concerned about Hinatas IQ. Then Hinata passed out, of shock and happiness. "Hinata?" Naruto caught her as good as he could. She didn't react, but he could see that she smiled a little. He laughed a little thinking that she sure was a little strange. Then she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Yes, Hinata." She began to blush and stood straight.

"Did I just dream… that you said that you like me?"

"No, I said it." Naruto smiled a little. Hinata blushed more and looked at him, smiling.

"Oh… That makes me happy…"

"That's good, dattebayo."

"Naruto-kun… You… can kiss me if you want to…" She smiled a little more, still blushing. Naruto smiled more to before leaning forward and kissing her. She kissed him back, and laid her arms around his neck. It was like a beautiful, beautiful dream. She couldn't believe that this was happening to her, not at all.

" I guess they aren't coming…." Sakura said when it felt like they had waited for an eternity.

"I could have told you that…" Ino sighed.

"How troublesome… do we have to play?" Shikamaru yawned a little.

"Yeah! I love to play!" Lee smiled big.

"… I'm hungry…" Chouji whined and TenTen sighed.

"Why don't you go to the kitchen then?"

"I'll do that now…" He stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"I'm bored!!" Kiba whined, and Akamaru joined him.

"Then you'll start, Kiba. Truth or dare?" Sakura crossed her arms and looked at him.

"… eh… truth?" Kiba didn't know what he was supposed to say.

"Oh, a truth, eh? Well, let's see. Which girl do you like?" Kiba frowned.

"No one! I hate girls, they're pains!"

"I bet there's some girl that you like more than the others."

"No! I hate every girl!" Sakura sighed.

"So childish…" Kiba glared at her.

"No! It isn't!" Sakura sighed again.

"It's your turn now…"

"Ok… truth or dare… TenTen…" Kiba looked at TenTen.

"Eh… truth…"

"Why did you kiss Lee so much before?" Kiba smirked a little. TenTen began to blush and looked down.

"….Well… I…eh…"

"Well?" Kiba smirked more.

"… I just felt like it…"

"When you choose Truth, you're supposed to tell the truth, you know."

"I said the truth.. I just felt like kissing him much.."

"You sure?"

"…yeah…"

"I don't believe you, but ok. Your turn."

"…Ok… Truth or dare…eh… Shikamaru?"

"It would be too troublesome to take dare, so I'll take truth…" Shikamaru sighed a little.

"… Ok… Who would you prefer to kiss in here? You have to pick one."

"I have to? How troublesome…" He sighed loudly. Then he looked at the girls in the room. "Its too troublesome… I would prefer not to choose at all…"

"You have to choose… There's only 3 girls here anyway…"

"Ok… I would take Ino, just because she's in my team, and she would kiss almost any boy…"

"Are you insinuating anything? That I would be some kind of easy trash?!" Ino looked offended at him and crossed her arms.

"Yeah… I know you, you know… Geez…" Shikamaru sighed. Ino looked even more offended.

"Well, I have never tried to kiss you or Chouji, have I!?"

"No, and that's good…"

"Stupid boy!!"

"You know, I'm smarter than the most… well… it's my turn now… truth or dare, Ino." Ino turned away her head.

"You're so stupid… Dare."

"… Write a love letter to Azuma-sensei, and send it to him." Shikamaru felt evil for some reason, even if it was troublesome. Ino looked angry at him.

"ARE YOU COMPLETELY STUPID!?!?!"

"No… you are… you chose dare…"

"I hate you, Shikamaru!" Ino stood up and got a piece of paper and began to write.

"I have to read it before you send It."  
"You're the stupidest boy I know!" Ino gave him the love letter that was very well-written.

Shikamaru read it and smiled a little.

"You're good at writing love letters, Ino. Are you doing it often?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Ok…" Shikamaru stood up and put the letter in an envelope and wrote Azumas address on it. Ino just sat down and avoided to look at him.

"Hmph!"

"Your turn…" Shikamaru put the letter in his pocket and sat down again.

"Sakura, truth or dare?"

"Um… Truth…" Sakura looked at Ino.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?"

"…. No… I'm saving my first kiss for Sasuke-kun…" Ino smirked a little, thinking she would never be kissed.

"Ok…"

"My turn… Ino, truth or dare."

"ME AGAIN!?!"

"Yeah…"

"Ok… Truth…"

"What did you really do when we others ate dinner?"

"I ate dinner with you!"

"I mean when you disappeared!" '

"I was with Neji! So my turn."

"You was with Neji?!"

"Lee, truth or dare?" Ino ignored Sakura.

"Dare! I loves dares!" Lee smiled big.

"Ok… Hmm…" Ino looked around. Lee looked excited at her, waiting to hear what he was supposed to do. Ino smirked a little before looking at him again. "Kiss Sakura." Lee blushed and shook his head.

"What? No, I cant do that. She's saving her kiss for Sasuke-kun."

"It's a dare… And you have to do it…" Ino wanted revenge for Sakuras stupid question to her.

"No! I can't take Sakura-sans first kiss!"

"You have to do it."

"No! I won't! It would be wrong!" Lee shook his head even more.

"Then you lose and have to leave the slumberparty and never talk to anyone here again…" TenTen glared at Ino.

"No! If you don't want to do a dare, you'll have to answer a question instead!"

"You have the wrong rules, TenTen. You have the wussy rules."

"No! I have the right rules! You just have some, stupid, easy girl rules!"

"Oh shut up! You don't know me! You're the one that haven't even been together with a boy!"

"Well, I'm not sneaking away with Neji when the others are eating dinner!"

"He would never want to be with an ugly, stupid, immature girl like you anyway!"

"You're the one who is stupid! I bet that you did it with him, and now you'll get pregnant!"

"Oh shut up! You don't even know what it is! 'Cause you'll never be with a boy that way!!"

"And how can you know that?!"

"'cause you're too ugly! You aren't feminine at all!"

"TenTen isn't ugly… I think that she's cute…" Lee said, even if he didn't understand what the girls were fighting about. Ino turned to Lee.

"Well, you aren't much to a man either!"

"Ino, why don't you just shut up?" Sakura sighed.

"You shut up! You haven't even kissed a boy! And you never will!"

"Shut up! What are you fighting over by the way, I don't get it!" Kiba glared at everyone in the room. Ino stood up and turned around.  
"I don't want to see your ugly faces anymore. I am going home!"

"Do so, no one will miss you!" She walked to the door and slammed it hard after that she had left the room. Shikamaru sighed loudly.

"Nice work everybody…"

"What!? She's the one who started it!" TenTen crossed her arms.

"Yeah, Yeah, I know, she's a pain, but she's not fun when she's angry. She'll get revenge…"

"How? She's not strong or anything!"

"She have her ways… She's a typical teenage girl, you know…"

"So? She's only an easy piece of trash…"

"She'll tell lies about you to everybody…"

"So? Who trust her?"

"The rest of the girls that are just like her…" Shikamaru sighed again.

"So? Who cares about them? Would do anything with a boy… Geez…" Then Hinata came into the room, looking nervous, still blushing a little.

"Who slammed the door? Are you fighting?"

"It was Ino…and she was the only one fighting…"

"W…Why? Wasn't she pleased with my slumberparty?" Hinata looked more nervous.

"She's probably just in a bad mood since she was being an easy trash with Neji earlier." Sakura said. Hinata blinked a few times.

"A… easy trash… with Neji-niisama?"

"Yeah… She probably did it…"

"Did what with Neji-niisama?"

"You know… it…" Hinata began to blush really bad.

"Oh…" She looked down. "Neji-niisama… and Ino-san…" She blushed more. "Are… they… in love, or something?"

"How should I know?" Sakura sighed a little, wondering what they were supposed to do now.

"Oh… I'm sorry…" Hinata bowed a little, still blushing. Kiba looked up at her.

"Hey, Hinata. What had you planned for us to do now?"

"Well… I thought that we would eat an evening meal, and then start to prepare for bed…"

"Great! As long it doesn't mean kissing or questions about who you like… Geez…"Kiba said and Akamaru agreed with him.

"O…Okay…" Hinata looked a little confused. Shino just sat quiet and looked down at the floor, thinking that nobody even had noticed that he sat there. "… I'll get Naruto-kun, so that we can make and eat the evening meal…" Hinata began to walk back to her room. Shino felt like dying and he lowered his head. Sakura looked a little sad at him, but didn't say anything. She didn't know what she could do to help him. But she didn't like to see him like that. It was just too sad. Then Hinata returned with Naruto, holding his hand. "Now we can eat the evening meal…" Shino then stood up.

"…excuse me…but I will not stay any longer…"

"Why not, Shino-kun?" Hinata looked sad at him. He just walked pass her and towards the maindoor. "Shino-kun?" Hinata let go of Narutos hand and followed Shino. But Shino only opened the door and walked out in the mild storm. Hinata followed him out. "Shino-kun? Why wont you answer me?"

"…I am sorry, Hinata…" He continued to walk, not knowing where.

"Why are you leaving?" Hinata still followed him, even if she just had her slippers on her feet.

"…I do not belong here…I should be home…"

"What do you mean with that you don't belong here?" Hinata stopped him by grabbing his arm. He pulled away it.

"…No one notice that I am there…No one appreciates me being there…"

"I want you to be there, I know that you're here, and I appreciate you…"

"…You said yourself…you would be happier if it would have been Naruto who had come to comfort you…" Shino didn't look at her. Hinata looked sad at him.

"You didn't hear it all. I said that I was happy that you came too…"

"…I am nothing but a fool…"

"You're not a fool, Shino-kun… Why do you think that?" He bit his lip a little.

"…I thought… that maybe you would appreciate me more if I did all those things to you… But I can never beat Naruto…Can I?"

"What..? You… wants to beat… Naruto-kun?"

"…I can not ever beat him, can I?..."

"Why… do you want to beat him? Are… are you…" Hinata blushed and couldn't finish the sentence.

"… I can not…"

"Shino-kun…" Hinata looked sad at him.

"…I tried my best… But still I am not good enough…"

"I'm sorry… But… I didn't know…" Hinata bowed a little. Shino still didn't look at her.

"…why am I not good enough?..."

"You are... but… I just… don't see you that way… You're a good and beloved friend…" Shino began to walk away again. "Shino-kun, don't leave. Please." Hinata still followed him, even if it was freezing cold.

"…go back…" He just kept on walking.

"I won't go back without you, Shino-kun."

"…Go to Naruto… you are a couple now, right?..."

"I… don't know. But I won't go back without you."

"…It hurts too much for me, Hinata… I have nothing left…"

"Shino-kun… Please… Don't leave…"

"…Do you want me to cry?..."

"Cry?" Hinata looked even more sad.

"…do you?..."

"No… I don't want you to cry… But I don't want you to leave either…"

"... I can not give you both, am I afraid…"

"Oh… Shino-kun… I'm sorry…"

"…go home… have fun…"

"I can't have fun if you leave. Everybody is leaving. No one enjoys my slumberparty." Hinata stopped and sniffed. Shino kept walking but began to walk slower. "Am I so bad at doing things like this?" Hinata sniffed again.

"…It has nothing to do with the slumberparty…"

"Then why is everyone leaving? Why?" She put a hand over her eyes. Shino stopped and looked back at her, and he wanted to go to her but since he knew she wouldn't be happier if he did, he turned forward again.

"… I leave because it hurt too much for me to stay…"

"I'm sorry, Shino-kun. I'm really, really sorry…" She sniffed and tears started to flow down her cheeks.  
"…Do not be, Hinata… I am the one who thought…" Shino didn't know how to continue that sentence.

"Thought what? That we could be more than friends?"

"…I am sorry, Hinata…" Shino felt so very dim-witted and irrational.

"No, I'm the one who's sorry… I made you think that… I'm so sorry…" Hinata hid her face in the both of her hands.

"…No… I was the one that was foolish…" Shino felt so very, very stupid and idiotic.

"Cant you come back with me? Please…" Hinata said low, and sniffed. His heart hurt so very much when he heard her sniff.

"…Hinata… You can not understand how much I would want to, but…"

"But what, Shino-kun?"

"…My own foolishness hurt me too much…"

"You're not a fool…."

"…I thought… You would begin to appreciate me more if I did all those things for you… I actually thought I had a chance… I call that to be a fool…" He just wanted to run home and lock himself into his room.

"I appreciate that you helped me and so… And I'm sorry that I can't love you... But you're my beloved friend and team-mate…" He thought that he didn't only want to be a friend and a team-mate

"…I understand that now… but still… I was a fool…I should have known that Naruto is the only one for you…"

"I'm sorry… But… I want you to come back with me…" Hinata sniffed.

"…I can not do that…If I do… it will only hurt…"

"But If I promise not to hold Naruto-kuns hand or not to hug him or so?

"… The fact that I actually thought I had a chance… is the fact that hurt me most…" He felt like he wanted to cry again.

"I'm sorry that I didn't realize… Maybe then it wouldn't have hurt so much…" Shino didn't know what to say, so he just stood there and stared at the snow that whirled around. "Shino-kun… Please follow me back to the house…" Hinata begged. He just shook his head a little. "Shino-kun… Please… I don't want you to leave…"

"…Can you not understand…that I want to be alone with my sorrow?"

"… I'm sorry… But I don't want you to leave…" He was almost going to tell her that she was selfish, but managed to stop himself. "You can go if you want to…" Hinata sniffed and turned around. Shino looked down, feeling bad for making her cry. She slowly started to walk back to the house, still crying. He turned around to look at her, and he just wanted to run to her and hug her, hard, but his brain told him that it would only result in more pain for them both. But he really wanted to hug her, and kiss her, and hold her tight forever. He took a few steps but stopped when his brain told him that she wouldn't want him to do that. But his body told him to do it, and he wanted to listen to his body, even if his brain was the more logical. He took some more steps, not really knowing if he should listen to his body or his brain. He wanted to follow his body; he really did, but still… Hinata wouldn't want him to do that… But he wanted to do it, he wanted to hold her tight and never let go of her. She hadn't gone far and if he just started to walk now he would reach her shortly. He started to walk after her, even if his brain was yelling NO to him. After a little while he reached her and he hugged her from behind.

"…I am sorry, Hinata…"

"Shino-kun… What…" She blushed and turned her head to look at him. He hid his head at her shoulder, still holding her.

"…I am truly sorry, Hinata…"

"Shino-kun…" She blushed more, and didn't know what to do. Shino knew that he should've let her go but he didn't want to.

"…I am sorry…"

"Don't be…" It was the only thing Hinata could think of saying. He held her a little closer, though he knew he shouldn't. He didn't ever want to let go of her, he just wanted to hold her, to feel her small, warm, soft body towards his. His brain kept telling him 'no' and he let go of her a little.

"…I am so sorry, Hinata… I should not…" She didn't say anything, she just blushed. He let go of her completely. "…I am sorry…"

"Wh…Why… are y…you sorry, Sh…Shino-kun?"

"… I have no right to hug you like that…" He looked down, feeling ashamed now when his brain had pushed away what his body wanted.

"It… It's okay, Shino-kun…" Hinata still blushed when she turned around to look at him.

"…No… It is not…I am sorry…" He backed a few steps and bowed a little, feeling more ashamed than ever.

"It's okay, Shino-kun…" Hinata looked down, still blushing.

"… It is not…" He turned around, wanting to kill himself for doing something like that.

"Why isn't it okay?"

"…You do not want me to hold you…"

"I do… As long it's a friend that hugs me… And you're a friend…"

"… But I do not want to hug you only as a friend, Hinata…" He felt even more ashamed and lowered his head even more.

"Oh… Ok…" Hinata blushed a little more. He looked over his shoulder at her.

"…I feel so ashamed, Hinata… I am so sorry…"

"It's okay…" She looked up at him, still blushing. He looked at her a while before looking down a little again.

"…You are too kind…"

"No… I'm not…" Hinata said before she sneezed a little, after she had been out in the mild storm to long with to little clothes on. Shino turned around and looked concerned at her.

"…Are you freezing, Hinata?… You should not have followed me out here…"

"No… No, it's okay… Don't worry…" She smiled a little, thinking that it really was cold. Shino then did something Hinata never thought she would see, when he unzipped his big jacked and took it of.

"…You are going to catch a cold…"

"Sh…Shino-kun… What… are you doing?" She looked a little shocked at him. He walked to her and put the jacket on her.

"…It is my fault that you are freezing…"

"B…But… aren't you going to freeze?" She blushed a little, but looked worried at him.

"…I do have a knitted sweater…" Shino looked down at the ugly sweater that his grandmother had gave him and thought that it was a little embarrassing that Hinata would see it.

"Oh… Okay… But… Is it enough?" Hinata looked at it, and thought that it was kind of cute that he had a knitted sweater. When he noticed that she was looking at it he began to blush.

"…Well, my grandmother knitted it for me… She always thinks I am cold so it should be enough…"

"Oh… Okay… I think that it's kind of cute…" Hinata smiled a little towards him. He began to blush even more.

"…No…It is ugly…"

"No… it isn't… Why do you think that?" He looked down, still blushing.

"…It not something a boy should wear…"

"So? If it holds you warm, it's good…" Shino looked up at her and when she smiled he felt a little warmer inside.

"…You may have right…"

"I am right, Shino-kun." She smiled a little more. Her smile was so pretty and he just wanted to kiss her but instead of doing that he looked down again.

"…Ok, Hinata…"

"But… you're sure that you don't want to come back with me, Shino-kun?" He wanted to say that he wanted to but he knew that Naruto would be there and as soon as they came inside she would forget him and go to Naruto instead. "Shino-kun?" She looked a little worried at him. He wouldn't be able to stand that be forgotten and have to sit alone in a corner. "Shino-kun?" She walked closer, still looking worried.

"…I do not want to sit alone and forgotten…" He said with a very low voice and turned away his head.

"Why would you do that?" Hinata looked sad at him. He turned away his head even more and still spoke with a very low voice.

"…Before…When you were with Naruto…no one cared about me…" She blushed a little, still looking sad at him.

"But… You can be with me now…"

"…You want to be with Naruto…I know that…"

"I want to be with you too, Shino-kun…" He felt like crying again for some reason.

"…I understand though… I can not be fun to talk with…"

"Shino-kun… Don't say things like that. I think that you're fun to talk with."

"…I bet you think Naruto is funnier to talk with so you rather would be with him…"

"Shino-kun… Don't be like that…"

"…I am sorry… But it is tough to sit in a room and no one notice you… It hurts you know…"

"Yeah… I know… It feels like that when I'm with my family…" Hinata looked down.

"…I do not want to feel that way again…"

"I promise that you won't…" He looked towards her with tears in his eyes that he hadn't been able to stop.

"…You do?..." She looked a little sad at him when she saw the tears.

"Yes, Shino-kun, I promise…" He looked down again."

"…But…You and Naruto…"

"Can't you be with Naruto-kun too?" Shino wondered if she didn't understand that it hurt in his heart when he saw Naruto, since that he would get reminded of that he could never win Hinatas heart. "… Or will it hurt too much, Shino-kun?"

"…I am sorry, Hinata…" Was all he managed to say.

"Ok… I understand… Here, your jacket…" Hinata said as she took of the jacket and gave it to him.

"…Take it…" He still looked away and didn't take it.

"Why? It's your jacket… I can't keep it…"

"…You will get cold otherwise…" His heart hurt so bad.

"I'll be fine; my house is just over there…" She held up the jacket even more.

"…No…I want you to take it…" He still didn't take it, and his heart hurt even more, cause somewhere deep in his heart he had wished that Hinata would beg him to come one more time.

"You want me to take it?" Hinata lowered her hand, and looked at the jacket. He nodded, thinking that she couldn't forget him completely if she had it.

"…I do not want you to be cold…"

"But… What if you get a cold?"

"…I do not care…" He actually didn't care about anything anymore.

"Then it's better if you come back with me to my house…" She held out her free hand towards him, to show that she wouldn't let him go home. He looked at her and he felt so happy that she had told him that she wanted him to stay once more. "Come on now, Shino-kun…" She still held out her hand to him. He hesitated as he reached out his hand to take hers, not knowing if he would dare. She took his hand and started to walk back to her house. He followed and blushed a little as he whispered.

"…T…Thank you…"

"Did you say anything, Shino-kun?" Hinata looked at him, still walking. He blushed even more and looked down.

"…no…"

"Oh… Okay…" She looked forward again. He couldn't tell her that he was so happy that she had asked him once more to come, that she had made him feel as he was important to her. When they came to the house, Naruto stood by the door, looking at them.

"Where've you been, dattebayo? I've been waiting…" He whined a little.

"We only talked a little, Naruto-kun…" Hinata smiled as she walked inside, still holding Shinos hand. Shino looked down and avoided looking at Naruto. When they got inside, Hinata let go of Shinos hand, and held up his jacket towards him. "Do you want this now, or should I really keep it?" He slowly took it and put in on again, zipping it so no one would see his ugly sweater. Hinata smiled a little. "So, should we eat an evening meal then?"

"Yeah, dattebayo!!" Naruto smiled bigger and took her hand as he began to walk to the kitchen. She smiled towards Shino as she followed Naruto.

"Come Shino-kun." Shino just looked down; he didn't wanna see her and Naruto holding hands.

"…I'll come in a minute…"

"Oh… Okay… Can you tell the others that we're going to eat now?" She still smiled towards him. But he still didn't look at her.

"…Yes… I can do that…" Hinata and Naruto walked into the kitchen, and Hinata smiled towards Naruto instead.

"So, what should we eat?" Naruto thought a while.

"I don't know, dattebayo…Ramen?"

"I don't know if we have any ramen... I can check…" She let go of his hand and walked to a cupboard and opened it. Naruto followed her.  
"Otherwise we can make some sandwiches, dattebayo." Hinata stood on her toes to look on the top shelf.

"Yeah… I'm just going to look here first…"

"Wanna help, dattebayo?"

"What?" She looked at him.

"Do you want some help too look at the top shelf? I mean, if you can't see, dattebayo."

"If it wouldn't be to much trouble, so yes thank you… I'm too short…" Hinata bowed a little towards him. Naruto smiled a little before picking her up and putting her on his shoulders.

"Can you see now?" She began to blush, and nodded.

"Y…Yes… Thank you…"

"Is there any ramen, dattebayo?"

"No… It isn't any ramen… I'm sorry…"

"Oh, bummer…" Naruto sounded a little disappointed.

"I'm sorry… If I had known that we didn't have any ramen, I would've bought some…"

"We can eat sandwiches instead. Cause you have bread, right?"

"Y…yeah… I hope so…" She then heard some suspicious sounds from the pantry. "Na.. Naruto-kun… Can you let me down? I've to go and look what's in the pantry…" She hoped that it wasn't Chouji…

"Ok, dattebayo…" He let her down and she walked to the pantry and begged to all gods that it wasn't Chouji. She opened the door and saw Chouji eating food for his life.

"Oh… Chouji-kun…" He looked up at her with his mouth filled with food.

"oh, Hiaha!" She looked devastated at the empty shelves and felt like crying.

"Chouji-kun…" Naruto walked so he stood beside her and he glared angry at Chouji.

"CHOUJI! YOU PIG!!"

"Fhat?" Chouji looked a little confused at them.

"YOU ATE ALL THE FOOD!!!"

"I difd?" Chouji looked at the shelves.

"YOU DID!!! DATTEBAYO!!!"

"Oh… Buft I wasf hungfy…" Chouji looked very sad as he looked down still with his mouth filled with food.

"It… it's okay Chouji-kun… I guess that I've to go to the store again…" Hinata said, still feeling like crying, because she knew that she didn't have enough with money to buy food to fill all of the shelves again, and her mom had said that they wasn't allowed to touch the pantry.

"… I'm soffy…" Chouji lowered his head even more, feeling very ashamed.

"It's okay…" Could she maybe call Neji and ask him for help? Neji had more money than anyone, she knew that. But would he help her after she had yelled at him like that? It wouldn't hurt to try… would it? She bowed a little towards Chouji and Naruto. "Excuse me a moment…" She then went to the phone and dialled Nejis mobile phone number hoping he would pick up. "Please pick up… Please pick up…" She begged the phone. She then heard how he answered.

"…What?"

"Neji-niisama?" She felt relived over that he had answered.

"…What do you want, Hinata-sama? Yell at me again?"

"No… I'm sorry for that… But… I need your help, Neji-niisama!"

"…With what?"…"

"Chouji-kun has eaten all the food in the pantry, and we weren't allowed to touch that, and I don't have enough with money to buy food to fill up the shelves again!"

"So now you want me to give you money? Didn't you want to be an ordinary girl?"

"I was thinking that you could borrow me money… But… You won't, right?" Hinata knew that it was meaningless, he was angry at her.

"…So when you're in trouble, I am good to have, aren't I?"

"I'm sorry that I disturbed you… Good night, Neji-niisama…" She hang up on him, and rested her head towards the wall, feeling like crying really much. She would never be able to have something like this again, and her parents would yell at her for hours. And they would forbid her to meet Naruto too. She closed her eyes when she felt tears beginning to fill up in them. She didn't want to cry, not at all. What she had to do now was to find a way to get money to refill the pantry again. But how? Even if she took all her savings… It wouldn't be enough; they had such a big pantry. She fell down on her knees. "It's useless…" She hid her hands in her face and began to cry. "I'll never make it…" Then she felt someone put a cold hand on her shoulder. She didn't look up; she just shook her head a little. The owner to the hand sat down beside her. She still didn't look up, she just cried. She could hear a voice say something but she couldn't hear it clearly. She didn't care to much either; she just felt like dying, her life was meaningless if she couldn't be with Naruto. Everything felt so hopeless.

"…ta-sama…"

"What?" She looked up. A snowy Neji sat beside her.

"Don't cry, Hinata-sama." She looked down again.

"Why not?"

"I'll help you… It's my duty…"

"I thought that you didn't want to help me…" She sniffed, still looking down.

"I'll help you…"

"Why? You didn't want to just a minute ago…"

"…It's my duty to help you, Hinata-sama…"

"So you'll just help me because it's your duty?"

"…Why do you talk like my duty is something bad?..."

"… Because the only reason people cares about me is because I'm the heir… No one cares about Hinata…"

"…I am proud over my duty, Hinata-sama…I wouldn't care about it if I didn't care about you…" It sounded as Neji felt offended. Hinata sniffed.

"I'm sorry… But that's how it feels… No one let me ever do anything, because I'm the heir… And I can dishonour the family…"

"…I'm sorry, Hinata-sama…" He took her hand in his cold one, and lowered his head.

"Don't be… it's not your fault…" She squeezed his cold hand a little.

"I was careless of your feelings, Hinata-sama…" He said, still with his head lowered. She squeezed his hand again.

"Don't think about it…"  
"I promise I'll try to think more about them…"

"Thank you…" She sniffed a little, before she looked at him. Neji still sat with his head lowered.

"I'll help you to fix this mess… I'll do it because you're my little cousin and I don't want to see you cry anymore…"

"Thank you, Neji-niisama…" She gave him a hug, still crying, but now of happiness. He hugged her back and she noticed how extremely cold he was. "Neji-niisama…" She got a little worried. "Have you been out in the storm since you left?"

"…I've been standing just around the corner…In case you would need my help…" He let go of her and stood up.

"What?" She stood up, looking worried.

"…We should hurry to the store before they close…" Neji began to walk towards the door.

"But… Aren't you freezing?" Hinata followed him.

"..You should take on a jacket, Hinata-sama…" She took on a jacket, still looking worried.

"Neji-niisama… Aren't you freezing? You should stay in…"

"No…I'm fine. Come on, we have to hurry." He opened the maindoor and walked out. Hinata followed him out in the mild storm.

"But…" Neji didn't say anything; he just walked towards the store. "Neji-niisama…" Hinata walked up next to him and took his hand. He just looked forward.

"…If I hadn't left you to start with… This would never have happened…"

"It's not your fault… It's mine…" Hinata looked down.

"…No…I didn't fulfil my duty, in any way…"

"It isn't your fault, Neji-niisama…"

"…I was too overprotective…"

"No… you just did what you thought was right…" She squeezed his hand a little.

"…Don't defend my actions…"

"I'm not… I'm just telling the truth…"

"You're being too kind, Hinata-sama…" She shook her head a little.

"No… I'm not…"

"Please, stop it. I feel even worse…"

"I'm sorry…" She squeezed his hand again. After a while they reached the store and they went in.

"Do you remember everything that was in the pantry?" She nodded.

"I think so… I made a little list before, if something like this would happen, but I can have missed some things…" Hinata picked up her wallet and took out a quite long list.

"…You made a list?..." Neji looked shocked at the list.

"… Yeah… I've made an inventory of everything in the house too…" She quickly closed her wallet, because she didn't want him to see how little money it was in it.

"…Okay… I see that you were prepared for the worse…"

"I know my friends…" She said as she looked at the list. Neji hold forth a hand towards her.

"Give me half. It'll go faster if we split."

"O…Okay…" She gave him the half of the list. He looked at it as he took a shopping-cart and walked towards some shelves. She took a shopping-cart too and looked at her part of the list. "Let's see… First… flour…" She felt so happy that Neji helped her after all. But she felt bad over that he had been standing out in the storm, just in case she needed help. She looked towards him were he was running around in the shop searching for the things on the list. He really was nice to her; she had to be more grateful to him. She walked to the shelf with flour and took a package. She put it in the shopping-cart, and looked on the list to see what was next. "…Salt…" She walked to another shelf and picked down a package of salt. She looked at the list and sighed when she saw that it was many things left on it. "But now I can buy ramen to Naruto-kun…" She smiled a little when she thought of Naruto. She was so happy and it felt like a dream. She then shook her head, she couldn't think of Naruto now! She rushed away for the next thing on the list. Soon she almost had everything on her list, except of mushrooms, but it was on the top shelf and she couldn't reach it so she whined a little. "Why am I so short?"

"Are you finished with your list, Hinata-sama?" Neji came towards her with a full shopping-cart.

"Almost, Neji-niisama… I've only mushrooms left… But I can't reach them…" She looked up towards the shelf, cursing it a little.  
"…Oh…" Neji looked up at it too.

"Can you pick them down?" Hinata looked at him.  
"I can try…" He walked to the shelf and tried to reach the mushrooms.

"Cant you reach them either?" She watched him.

"…no… not really…" Neji looked up at the mushroom, cursing them.

"What should we do? The store is soon closing…" Hinata looked nervous. Neji thought a while before he sat down on his knees.

"Stand on my shoulders."

"What?" She looked a little shocked at him.

"If you stand on my shoulders, you can reach the mushrooms and we can pay and go to your house with all the things and everything will be just fine."

"O…Okay…" She carefully stepped up on his shoulders and reached up for the mushrooms. "Got it!" Right after she had said it she began to sway. "Oh… Oh…" She hoped that she wouldn't fall, that wouldn't be nice. But of course she did. "Ahh!" She closed her eyes and held the mushrooms tight, so they wouldn't broke.

"Hinata-sama!" She felt how she fell down on the floor but it was soft for some reason.

"Neji…-niisama?" She looked down at the floor.

"…Are…you…okay, Hinata…-sama?" Neji laid under her, being glad that he had managed in time.

"Y..Yes… B…But... are you okay, Neji-niisama?" Hinata quickly stood up and looked worried at him. He stood up too and brushed of his clothes. "Are you okay? You… Shouldn't have done that…"

"I'm fine. As long as you didn't hurt yourself, I'm fine." He walked to the shopping-cart again.

"Thank you for breaking the fall, Neji-niisama…" Hinata bowed a little before she walked to her shopping-cart and put down the mushrooms into it.

"Don't thank me. I did it because I wanted to…" Neji began to walk to the cashier. She followed him, and wondered how much this was going to cost.

"O…okay…" Neji put the goods on the band. She watched him, hoping that it wouldn't take too much of Nejis money.

"That'll be 12 583." The tired cashier sighed. Hinatas eyes widened.

"Twe…twelve… thousand… five hundred eighty three?"

"Here's 12 600. Keep the change. And I'm going to borrow the shopping-carts." Neji gave the money to the cashier. The cashier just nodded a little, and yawned, and Hinata looked nervous at Neji.

"I'll repay you, Neji-niisama…" Neji just packed down the goods in the shopping-carts again. "I'll repay you, I promise…" Hinata helped him, and thought that she would do anything to repay him. They put some plastic bags over the goods before going outside. Hinata felt a little bad for using Nejis money, and she looked at the snowy ground, not saying anything. Neji observed her.

"I thought you would be happy that I helped you."

"I am, But… It was so much money…" She looked a little at him.

"Don't think about it…"

"Why not? It was more money than I have in my piggybank…" She looked down again.

"Money has no importance to me…And I'm sure you'll be able to repay me, in one way or another."

"But… It was so much money… And you are supposed to be mad at me…"

"Why am I supposed to be mad at you?"

"I yelled at you before…" He looked forward again.

"…I deserved it…"

"No… You didn't…"

"I did. I shouldn't try to protect you so much, all the time…"

"But… It's your duty…"

"But if it doesn't please you and you get sad, it's meaningless…"

"… Maybe… but still…"

"…You know the family won't let you be with any boy…"

"… Yeah… I know…" She looked down and her heart began to hurt.

"…I just thought that…If I didn't let you be too near anyone of them, it wouldn't hurt so much for you in the end…"

"Oh… Thank you…" Her heart began hurt more, when she thought about that Neji had tried to protect her from getting hurt, but she hadn't understood it.

"…But I guess I can't protect you from everything."

"No… But I appreciate that you tries… even if I can't understand that you only wants my best…" Neji looked a little at her and saw her sad eyes and his heart ached. She looked up at him and smiled a little, a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Thank you, Neji-niisama…" It hurt even more to see her try so hard.

"…Hinata-sama…"

"Yes, Neji-niisama?"

"…You don't have to pretend…"

"I'm not pretending…" She looked still looked at him, faking her smile.

"…I know you better than that…"

"I'm not…" She looked down again. He looked sad at her.

"You can cry if you want to…"

"Why would I want to cry?" She actually wanted to cry, but didn't want Neji to know.

"…Stop it, Hinata-sama…"

"Stop what?"

"Pretending…" His heart hurt so badly when she was trying so hard.

"I'm not pretending… Really…" She bit her lip a little.

"…I wish you could be with any boy… Just like I can be with any girl… I understand if your heart hurt."

"It's okay… I guess that they've chosen a good husband to me, and that makes me happy…"

"…I don't believe you… You don't even know who it is…"

"Do you know who it is?" Neji didn't answer, he just kept walking. "Neji-niisama? Do you know?" Hinata looked up at him. He still didn't answer, or looked at her. She got a little worried. "Neji-niisama?"

"…Let's not talk about it anymore, ok?"

"What? Do you know who it is, and don't want to tell me?"

"We should hurry to the others…"

"Neji-niisama… Please tell me…" Hinata looked sad at him.

"..You don't want to know…"

"I do want to know… Then it won't come as a shock…" Neji bit his lip.

"You don't want to know…"

"I do, Neji-niisama…"

"…no…believe me…"

"Why wouldn't I want to know?"

"…You won't like it…"

"I want to know, Neji-niisama… I want to know who I should be nicer to and so… And I'm sure of that I'll like it…" She said, even if she knew that she only wanted to marry Naruto.

"You won't like it…"

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"It isn't something you have to know yet." Hinata sighed, why was Neji being like that?

"If I say that it's an order to tell me?"

"I have no permission from your parents to tell you."

"They won't know that you've told me… So tell me now…"

"I have no obligation to tell you, Hinata-sama, so please don't ask me anymore."

"But… Neji-niisama…" Hinata looked down, with a sad look on her face. Neji didn't say anything, since he didn't want her to be sad but he couldn't tell her either. "Is it someone old?" She slowly asked. He looked at her.

"What?"

"Is my future husband old?" She didn't look at him.

"He's older than you, but not over 50."

"How much older?"

"Not so much…" He looked forward again.

"Do I know him?"

"He's in the Hyuuga-clan."

"In the headfamily?"

"I can't tell you anymore, Hinata-sama."

"Neji-niisama… Please…" Hinata looked up at Neji with begging eyes.

"I can't. And it's not appropriate for you to beg like that."

"But I want to know…" Hinata looked down again.

"You don't want to know."

"I want to know… You're not the one who decides if I want to know or not…"

"If I would tell you, you wouldn't like it and you would say that you actually didn't want to know."

"I won't…"  
"If you want to know so bad, ask your parents."

"They would just get mad at me, and yell at me…" Hinata said with a low voice. Neji bit his lip a little, knowing that she was right. She didn't say anything, she just continued to walk. He held the shopping-cart harder, he didn't know what to say to comfort her. He was so useless sometimes.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-sama…" He whispered with a very low voice.

"Sorry for what, Neji-niisama?" She looked at him. He turned away his head, he didn't want to look at her.

"I can't tell you… Even if I would want to, I can't…"

"Why… can't you tell me?"

"For the first, I have no permission to tell you, and for the second, you wouldn't like it…"

"But… No one would know that you've told me… And I want to know, even if I wouldn't like it…"

"No…"

"Okay… I won't ask anymore…" She looked at her shopping-cart.

"I'm sorry…" Neji bit his lip, wishing that he hadn't known who was going to be Hinatas husband.

"Don't be…" They arrived at Hinatas house.

"But I am…" Neji parked the shopping-cart and picked up some goods to take inside. Hinata did the same.

"You shouldn't be…"

"I wished I didn't know either…" They walked in and towards the kitchen.

"Is it so bad?" Neji bit his lip and opened the pantry. "Neji-niisama?" Hinata looked at him.

"You would think it was bad…" He put in the goods and then walked out again. Hinata did the same, and followed him.

"I would?"

"You would." He picked up more goods and walked in with it. Hinata looked a little helpless at the two full shopping-carts before she picked up as much she could and followed him into the kitchen.

"Okay…" Neji didn't say anything more, he just walked back and forth, filling the pantry. When Hinata stood in the pantry, she realised that her mom maybe would see on the dates on the package that it was new food. "I'm doomed…"

"…Why are you doomed, Hinata?…" Suddenly Shino stood beside her. She froze a little before she smiled towards him.

"I'm just saying silly things, Don't mind them…"

"…Why are you doomed?..."

"No reason…" She still smiled.

"…I see…" Shino looked a little sad at her before turning around. Hinata looked down, and bit her lip.

"I'm sorry… I just thought that my mom will notice that the date on the food packages has changed…" He turned to her again.

"…Why would she do that?..."

"She's a pedant…"  
"…Oh…" Shino looked towards the food.

"But it will be okay…" Hinata knew that it wasn't true. He looked at her again, not saying anything. "It really will be…" She looked up and smiled a little.

"…Your eyes tell me that you are lying…"

"I'm not lying…"

"…I see…" Shino looked sad at her.

"What?" She looked a little sad at him.

"…I understand…" He turned around and walked away.

"Shino-kun? What do you mean with 'I understand'?" Hinata followed him.

"…You do not want to talk to me about it…"

"I just don't want you to worry…"

"…No…I understand… I am sorry I disturbed you…" Shino walked to his sleepingbag and sat down on it, not looking at her.

"Shino-kun… Don't be like that…" Hinata looked sad at him.

"…I am sorry… I should not have asked…Please return to what you were doing…" He still didn't look at her.

"Ok… I lied… But I didn't want you to worry about me…"

"…No…I can not help you anyway…"

"… You can if you want to…" He looked up at her.

"…I can?..."

"Yes… You can help me move the goods from the shopping-carts to the pantry… Then my mom can't complain over that I haven't…"

"…You want me to help you?..."

"Only if you wants to…" She smiled a little.  
"…But… Do **you** want **me **to help you?..."

"Yes… I want you to help me…" She nodded.  
"…Oh…That makes me feel glad…" Shino looked down and smiled a little as he stood up.

"That's good…" He looked at her and smiled a little more.

"…If you appreciate my help, I will always be glad…" She blushed a little.

"That's even better…" Shino walked pass her and outside to carry in some goods. She followed him and met Chouji on the way, carrying some goods, and she looked at him.

"Chouji-kun… why are you…"

"I thought I had to help since I made you so sad, Hinata…" He walked to the kitchen with them. Hinata looked after him.

"Oh… Thank you…" After a while they had refilled the pantry. Hinata bowed to Shino, Chouji and Neji. "Thank you all for your help, I appreciate it…"

"No problems, Hinata!!" Chouji smiled big and felt proud over himself.

"It's my duty to help you when you have problems, Hinata-sama…" Neji said, and felt bad over that it was his fault that it happened.

"…You do not have to bow, Hinata…" Shino said, being happy that she thanked him.

"But… I must thank you properly…" Hinata stood straight and looked at them. Neji just shook his head and walked out the kitchen. "Where's the rest? I haven't seen them…"

"…I do not know, Hinata…" Shino said and shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh… Okay… How about you, Chouji-kun?"

"…I think that they're down in the basement playing truth or dare again…" Chouji scratched his head a little.

"In… the basement?" Hinata looked a little confused.

"…Yeah… I think so…"

"Oh… Okay…" Hinata walked towards the basement. Shino followed her.

"…Do you want to play truth or dare with them?..."

"Well… I think so…" Hinata started to walk down the stairs.

"…I see..." He still followed her. When they came down, Hinata looked around.

"I wonder in which room they're in…" Shino heard some laughter and pointed at a door.

"…I think they are in there…"

"Yeah…" Hinata walked to the door and opened it.

"Hi, Hinata, dattebayo!" Naruto smiled towards her as he sat in the little ring of people on the floor. She smiled back.

"Hi… What are you guys doing?"

"We're playing truth or dare! Come and join us!"

"Okay! Come, Shino-kun, you should join too!" Hinata walked into the room and looked at Shino, who stood by the door. But he just shook his head. "Why not?" Hinata sat down next to Naruto, looking a little sad at Shino. He just shook his head some more before he closed the door and walked away. "Oh…" Hinata looked sadder as she looked at the door.

"Don't care about him, Hinata. He's only a dry stick anyway, dattebayo…"

"He's not! He just doesn't know how to talk to people…" Hinata looked at Naruto.

"Does he know how to talk at all?"

"He does!"

"No… He's all like '…I…am…a…dry…stick…'"

"Naruto-kun! Don't be mean! He's not like that!" Hinata frowned a little.

"Then how is he?"

"He's actually quite fun, when you've gotten to know him, right, Kiba-kun?" Kiba looked up from a magazine.

"Huh?"

"Shino-kun is quite fun when you get to know him, right!"

"Fun and fun… He's a nice friend." Kiba looked down at the magazine again.

"See?" Hinata turned to Naruto again.

"I still think he's a dry stick… Just being all alone in a corner with a lot of bugs…"

"Whatever, should we continue playing?" TenTen suddenly said.

"Yeah, whose turn was it, dattebayo?"

"It was your turn." She sighed a little.

"oh… eh…Fuzzy eyebrows, truth or dare?"

"Dare! Dare! I love dares!" Lee looked excited.

"Then go and get Dry Stick and tell him to join us."

"Ok!" Lee ran out of the room.

"Don't call Shino-kun for dry stick, Naruto-kun!" Hinata tried to sound angry.

"I'm sorry… But he is one when he don't want to join us.." Naruto tried to look like an sad puppy.

"It's because things like that he doesn't want to!"

"Oh… Okay… I wont call him that anymore…" Lee rushed in again, holding Shinos arm.

"I brought the one you refer as 'Dry Stick'!"

"… Dry…stick?..." Shino looked at Naruto.

"Hehe…join us!" Shino pulled away his arm from Lee.

"…Why?..."

"Because you should, dattebayo."

"Yeah, Shino-kun, you should." Hinata smiled towards Shino. Shino looked first at her and then at the other ones in the room before shaking his head.

"…no…"

"Why not, Shino-kun?" Hinata looked a little sad.

"…Truth and dare… is not something for me…"

"Pleease, Shino-kun…" Hinata activated her 'begging for stuff' eyes.

"…I do not fit for these kinds of entertainments…"

"But… It'll be funnier if you join too…"

"Yeah, it **will,** dattebayo!" Naruto smiled a little. Shino looked at him in disbelief, but didn't say anything. But after a while he sat down.

"…ok…" Hinata smiled towards Shino.

"That's good, Shino-kun!" Shino didn't say anything, he just looked around.

"It's your turn, Fuzzy eyebrows!" Lee smiled big.

"Ok! TenTen, truth or dare!"

"Truth." TenTen smiled towards him, being glad that she picked him.

"Hmm… Okay… Who do you like?" Lee thought that it was a good and innocent question. But TenTen began to blush and looked down. "TenTen, you have to answer." Lee poked at her arm.

"Well…eh… I like…" Lee waited excited for her to continue. She leaned to him and whispered it in his ear. Lee began to blush, and didn't say anything, he just stared at her. She blushed even more and looked down. Then Lee stood up. "I… have… to… go to the toilet…"

"The toilet?" Naruto looked a little confused at him.

"Y…Yeah…" Lee walked out of the room, still blushing.

"Oh well, it's your turn, TenTen." TenTen was still blushing.

"Oh… Ok… truth or dare… Shino?" Shino looked shocked up, wondering if he had heard right.

"…Excuse me?..."

"Truth or dare?" TenTen looked at him, still blushing.

"…You are asking me?..." Naruto began to laugh a little, thinking he was not only a dry stick, he was also stupid.

"I'm asking you, and stop laughing Naruto." TenTen glared a little at Naruto, before turning to Shino again.

"…eh…ehm…" Shino still was shocked and got a little nervous when Naruto laughed at him.

"Hmm?" TenTen still looked at Shino, but threw a pillow at Naruto to make him shut up. But it resulted in that Naruto just fell on his back still laughing a little and Shino lowered his head, feeling like he wanted to run away.

"…truth?..." Hinata put her hand over Narutos mouth to make him shut up, and TenTen smiled towards Shino.

"Truth eh? So… Who's the sexiest girl in this room?"

"…se…se…se…" Shino began to blush a little, thinking this wasn't a game at all for him.

"Yes, The sexiest girl in this room. It's only three girls, so it can't be hard to decide." TenTen smirked a little. Shino didn't know what to say so he blushed even more, looking down and Naruto twisted by laughter, even though Hinata held her hand over his mouth. She then put both of her hands over his mouth, and TenTen smirked a little more towards Shino. "Come on, you have to answer…"

"…I…I…I do think…"

"Hmm?" TenTen leaned forward a little, waiting for an answer.

"…I…do…think…Hinata…would be…the…se…se…" Shino blushed more than ever.

"Hinata?" TenTen, Sakura, Naruto and Kiba looked shocked at him, and Hinata began to blush really much. Shino didn't say anything; he just stared at the floor.

"Now… is... it Shino-kuns turn…" Hinata said, still blushing bad.

"…eh…Sakura…truth or dare?..." He still stared at the floor, feeling so embarrassed.

"….truth…" Sakura was still shocked, and stared at him.

"…What did you consume for breakfast?..." Shino didn't know what to ask so he just asked something.

"Breakfast?" Naruto took away Hinatas hands and began to laugh even more.

"Breakfast! That's a real question from a dry stick! You're right, Hinata! He's funny!" Then Hinata slapped Naruto lightly.

"Don't be mean!" Shino stood up and quickly walked out the door without saying a word.

"What, dattebayo!?"

"You're not nice to Shino-kun!" Hinata glared a little at Naruto before she followed Shino.


	8. The night before Christmas

Chap 8 – The night before X-mas

Shino just ran up the stairs wondering why he had joined them when he knew he didn't fit those kinds of games.

"Shino-kun! Wait!" He heard how Hinata followed him. But he just shook his head and ran even faster, up the stairs, through the hallway and to the maindoor. "Shino-kun!" Hinata ran faster too. He put his hand on the door handle but instead for opening it he fell on his knees, feeling so stupid. "Shino-kun…" Hinata sat down beside him, and took his hand.

"…Do not look at me…" He turned away his head, feeling so ashamed.

"Why not, Shino-kun?" Hinata looked sad at him.

"…I made a fool of myself…"

"Don't think of it, they're just mean…" She squeezed his hand. He shook his head.

"…No…I am a dry stick…I am no good with people…"

"You're not a dry stick… They're wrong…" He lowered his head.

"…I should have gone home…"

"Shino-kun… I'm sorry…" He pulled away his hand and put it over his eyes.

"…I am sorry… You should return to them and continue to play…"

"No… I won't leave you…" Shino didn't say anything; he just lowered his head even more, still hiding his eyes. "Shino-kun… I'm sorry that they were mean…" He just shook his head. She put her hand on his shoulder. "I am…"

"…Pl…Please go…"

"Why?"

"…I do…do not wa…want you to s…see me like this…"

"I cant leave you when you're sad…" She saw how tears began to drip down from his hand.

"…You c…can… I am f…fine…."

"Shino-kun… Don't lie…" She stroke his cheek a little.

"…G…go…" He turned away his head, feeling so ashamed for everything. She then hugged him a little.

"No. I won't…"

"…S…stop it…" But he leaned towards her shoulder.

"No… You're my friend, and you're sad…" She hugged him harder.

"…I am j…just a dr…dry stick…" She shook her head.

"No… I don't think that you're a dry stick…"

"…I…I can no…not… even pl…play truth…or...da…dare properly…"

"It's okay… Shino-kun… It's okay…" He hid his face at her shoulder, wondering why she even wanted to touch him. "If it feels better, so cry…" She stroke his hair a little. It felt like he had heard it before. Maybe he had… But he shook his head any way.

"…A…man sh…should not…cr…cry…"

"You're only twelve years old…"

"…I am so…soon 13…"

"So? You're just a kid… Like me and the rest…" He hid his face even more and began to cry even more. Hinata thought that she was going to yell at Naruto and the others later. They had no right to be that mean to Shino-kun; it wasn't his fault that he wasn't so used to be social. And she was disappointed at Naruto, for laughing at him like that. Didn't he understand that he was being plain mean? And that Shino got hurt by it? She who had tried so long to make him stay and then Naruto does something like this. She was so disappointed; she hadn't thought this about him. She wondered if Naruto had been mean to Shino before and she hadn't noticed. "Shino-kun…" She stroke his hair a little. Now that she thought about it, it all started to make a little sense. "Have… Naruto-kun been mean to you before?" He didn't answer, he just cried. "Shino-kun… Have he?"

"…He…He… ju…just say what ev…everybody else th…thinks…"

"So he has been mean?" Hinata got even more disappointed at Naruto.

"...I am…so…sorry… I know you li…like him…"

"That doesn't matter… He has been mean to my friend, and I'm really disappointed at him."

"…H…He is ju…just being ho…honest…" No wonder he didn't want to be near Naruto and that he felt even worse when he got it confirmed that the blonde little kid was better than him. Hinata was so disappointed at him that her heart hurt really bad.

"No! He's just plain mean!" Shino just shook his head. "I'm going to yell at him later, Shino-kun. I promise."  
"...no…"

"Yes, I'm going to yell at him. He has no right to be mean to you."

"…I sho…should go home…" He gently pushed away her and stood up, turning towards the door.

"Shino-kun…" Hinata stood up too. He began to dry his tears.

"…I do not fit here…"

"You do…"

"…I am just destroying the party for you…"

"No, you're not!" Hinata took his hand and squeezed it. He didn't look at her.

"…If it were not for me, you could be with Naruto and be happy…"

"Shino-kun… How long have he been mean to you?"

"…That does not matter…"

"It matter to me, so tell me."

"…I do not care, so I have not counted days…"

"… How long, itch?"

"…Half a year…maybe…But he have not been that mean…He are just saying what he think…." He still didn't look at her.

"Half a year?" Half a year, and she hadn't noticed?! She felt so terrible. "Oh, Shino-kun…I'm sorry."

"… Sorry for what?..." She felt tears fill up in her eyes.

"I haven't noticed…I feel so bad…" Shino looked a little at her, before turning to the door.

"… You should not cry…" She quickly dried her eyes, still holding his hand.

"Please don't go, Shino-kun…I'll tell Naruto to go…"

"… No… I am the one going home…" He pulled away his hand from hers and opened the door.  
"No, Shino-kun!" Hinata gently pulled him away from the door and closed it before she stood in front of it.

"… Move, Hinata…" He looked at her.

"Please, please, please don't leave, Shino-kun. I'm sorry I haven't noticed earlier, but please don't leave!" She got tears in eyes again, still standing in his way.

"… I am sorry Hinata, but I will not stay any longer, so please move…"

"I'm sorry, Shino-kun… I'm so sorry!" Tears began to roll down her cheeks; she didn't want him to go home and be all alone.

"… Hinata, please do not cry…"

"Shino-kun, please don't go! I don't want you to be alone!! I want you to be here with me!"

"… I am truly sorry, Hinata, but I will not stay any longer… I will go home, even if you do not want me to…" Shino walked to her and gently pushed her away from the door, opened it and walked out. She rushed after him and grabbed his arm, trying to make him halt.

"Shino-kun!"

"… No, Hinata… I will not stay any longer…" He gently pushed her away from him, and continued to walk.

"Please, Shino-kun!" She tried to grab his arm again but tripped and fell down on the snowy ground. "Please don't go…" She laid there in the snow and cried. She couldn't even feel the cold; she only didn't want Shino to go. "Shino-kun…" Then Shino walked to her and lifted her up.

"… You should not lay there in the snow…. You will catch a cold…" She then wrapped her arms around him, holding him hard.

"If you'll go, I'll stay in the snow until you come back."

"… Hinata…" Shino blushed a little.

"Don't go, Shino-kun! I want you here!" She looked up at him, still crying.

"… Why, Hinata?" He looked away. She hid her face in his jacket, still holding him hard.

"Cause I can't enjoy the rest of this slumberparty without you!"

"… Of course you can… I am just a dry stick…"

"You're not, Shino-kun! I enjoy your company!" She began to cry even more, 'cause she was afraid he wouldn't listen to her.

"… Do not cry, Hinata…" He held her a little closer.

"Then say you won't leave." Shino didn't say anything, he just held her. "Shino-kun… Please…" She looked up at him again. "Shino-kun…I beg of you…Say you won't leave…" He still didn't say anything, but she could feel how he held her closer. "Shino-kun… Please, Please… Say that you won't leave…" She hugged him even harder. "Say it…"

"… Hinata… I can not…" He didn't look at her.

"Why not, Shino-kun?" She hid her face again, crying more than ever.

"… I do not fit in… I am too boring…"

"Stop it! You're not!! I like your company very much!!!"

"… You are just saying that… I know what people think about me…"

"Stop it, stop it! You're wrong! I really do enjoy your company!! I think you're fun to be with! You're a very precious friend to me!!"

"… Really?..."  
"Of course! Why don't you believe me?! Why would I lie?"

"… Thank you, Hinata…" Shino held her closer.  
"Don't thank me… Say you'll stay…" He held her even closer.

"… Do I have to?"

"I want you to stay, Shino-kun… If you leave, I would be so sad and my slumberparty really would be a disaster…"

"… I will stay then…" He walked back into the house, still carrying her.

"Thank you, Shino-kun…" She felt relieved and glad but couldn't stop crying.

"… Just do not cry anymore…" He looked at her.

"I'm sorry…" She began to dry her tears. He put her down, and put his hands in his pockets.

"… Do not be… There is no need for that…" She looked at him, still drying her tears.

"Shino-kun… I can ask Naruto-kun to leave, if you want to…" He didn't answer; he just turned away his head. "Shino-kun… Do you want me to ask him to leave?" She took his hand. "Do you?" He still didn't answer, and she squeezed his hand a little. "Shino-kun…"

"…I do not want to ruin the party… You can do as you wish…"

"Oh… Okay…" Hinata thought that she maybe would wait until after the party to yell at Naruto.

"…So…What had you planned now?..." He looked at her again.

"That we should sleep. It's quite late…" She looked at her watch.

"…Ok…I hope I took my pyjamas with me…" He looked towards the livingroom where all the sleepingbags were. Hinata smiled a little.

"If you didn't, I have some extras, if someone had forgotten theirs…"

"…How considerate of you, Hinata…" He turned towards her and smiled a little too.

"I've extra toothbrushes too." She smiled a little more.

"… I actually do have a toothbrush with me…" They walked to the livingroom and Shino walked to the corner where he had his sleepingbag and backpack. Hinata looked at her sleepingbag, and wondered where she would sleep. She looked around and saw that Shinos sleepingbag was very far away from everyone else's and she felt a little sad about it.

"Shino-kun… Are you going to sleep over there all alone?" She looked a little sad at him. Shino didn't look at her; he was searching in his backpack.

"… I fit here…" She then began to drag her sleepingbag to him.

"Then I'll sleep there too…" Shino began to blush a little.

"…There is no need for that…"

"I want to sleep here, it seems cosy…" She put her sleepingbag next to his, and sat down while smiling. He looked a little confused at her.

"…cosy?..." She still smiled.

"Yes, a dark corner near an element…" Shino looked at the wall and noticed the element.

"…Oh…"

"You hadn't noticed it before?" He shook his head a little.

"…I did not think about it…"

"Ok, but now you know that you won't freeze."

"…I do not freeze often anyway…"

"Oh… Ok…" Shino began to search his backpack again and after a while he picked up a pyjamas.

"…Here it is…"

"So you didn't forget it?"

"…no…" He looked a little at his pyjamas, thinking that he wished he had a less embarrassing pyjamas.

"Mine's here…" Hinata picked up her pyjamas from inside of her sleepingbag and looked at it. He looked at it, thinking it was a nice pyjama unlike his. It was a red silk pyjama, and he could picture Hinata wearing it. She would look very cute, and Shino looked down being a little ashamed that he had thought that. He shouldn't think of her like that, it was wrong.

"…Where can I change?..."

"In the bathroom, but if someone else is there, you can be in my room." Hinata smiled while pointing at her door. Shino didn't want to think about himself changing in Hinatas room so he stood up and walked to the bathroom, hoping it was free. Just when he put his hand on the handle, opened the door and Lee came out, still blushing a little.  
"Oh, hello, Shino-kun…" He walked pass him and towards the livingroom. Shino walked into the bathroom, not saying hello back. He just closed and locked the door before starting to change into his pyjamas. Lee walked to his sleepingbag, and looked at TenTens, which lay beside his. He moved his a little away from hers, wondering if she had meant it or if she just had joked with him. He didn't know what to believe, but it was scary. He moved away as far as he could but then he bumped into someone and he turned around.

"Oh, Hinata-san, hello…" Hinata smiled towards him.

"Hello Lee-kun, do you want to sleep here in the corner too?" Lee looked at her and then the sleepingbags.

"It looks like you and Shino-kun are sleeping here… Can I too?"

"Yes, of course Lee-kun…" Hinata nodded. Lee smiled towards her and sat down on his sleepingbag beside her.

"Yay!" Hinata smiled more, thinking that it was good that Lee had joined her and Shino, because then Shino would get more company.

"Do you have a pyjamas and a toothbrush with you?"

"I have a super-ultra-modern-and-hip pyjamas and an even more super-ultra-modern-and-hip toothbrush!!" Lee smiled big and showed her his jumpsuitish pyjamas and his green toothbrush.

"Wow, Lee-kun. That's… cool…" Hinata looked at them.

"I know!!" He did a thumb up and smiled even bigger.

"Look at my Pyjamas!" Hinata held up hers. Lee put his hands together and looked at it with big eyes.

"Oh my!!! How cute, Hinata-san!!"

"Isn't it? I love it!" Hinata smiled big. Shino then came into the room, wearing his pyjamas and holding his hands over the lower part of his face for some reason. "Shino-kun… Why are you doing that?" Hinata looked a little weird at him. He sat down, still holding his hands over his face.

"…I feel naked…"

"You do?" He nodded a little and dropped down his clothes beside him. "Why, Shino-kun?"

"…I do not have a collar…"

"So?"

"…You can see my whole face without any problems…"

"So? Is that a problem?" He just nodded. "Why?" Hinata looked a little worried at him.

"…I feel bared…"

"Oh… Okay… But… You can't sit like that all the time…"

"…I can… and I will…" Lee blinked a little confused when Shino said that.

"Do you feel ashamed over your face?" He asked, still confused.

"…no…I just feel bared if I show it…" Shino looked at his jacket, wondering if he should put it on.

"Oh… Okay…" Lee was still confused. Shino decided to take his jacket on so he turned his back against them and picked up the jacket. Hinata moved to him and took his jacket from him, and looked at him.

"Shino-kun…" He quickly put his hands over his face again.

"…What?..." She laid down the jacket, and removed his hands from his face.

"Don't hide your face…" Shino turned away his head.

"…But…"

"No buts. You should show your face more."

"…Why?..." He looked a little at her.

"Because if you hide your face all the time, people will think that you're scared and unsocial…" He looked down, knowing that she probably was right. "So, don't hide your face anymore, ok?"

"…I will not hide my face anymore tonight…"

"That's good, Shino-kun… I'll go and change to my pyjamas now…" Hinata stood up and walked to her room. Shino looked after her before looking down again. She was so nice to him. But he felt bad; he knew she would've been happier to be with Naruto. But now he had destroyed it for her. He bit his lip when he thought about that he was being a burden. Then came Hinata back with her pyjamas on and smiled a little. "I'm back!" Lee clapped his hands a little.

"You fit in that pyjamas perfectly, Hinata-san!" She began to blush a little.

"I… I do?" Shino looked at her too, thinking that she really was. She sat down at her sleepingbag, still blushing, and bowed a little. "Thank you, Lee-kun…" Shino wanted to tell her it too, so she would thank him too, but he couldn't find the right words. It was so hard, when she was so pretty. When he couldn't find even one word that was right, he lowered his head, feeling stupid. Hinata looked a little worried at him. "Shino-kun?" He didn't say anything, he just wished he could tell her how pretty she was, but it was hard since she liked Naruto. "Shino-kun? Is something wrong? Do you have a stomach-ache?" He just shook his head. "Then why do you look so sad?"

"… I am not sad…" He looked up at her, trying to show her that he wasn't.

"Okay…" She looked a little worried.

"Now we should go brush our teeth and then we should crawl down in our sleepingbags and tell secrets for each other before sleeping!!" Lee clapped his hands again. Hinata smiled towards him.

"Yeah! But shouldn't the others be here too? Like Neji-niisama, Chouji-kun, Kiba-kun and TenTen-san!" Shino looked at her, wondering why she hadn't said Shikamaru, Sakura and Naruto. "Oh, I forgot Shikamaru-kun!" Hinata smiled a little more.

"You forgot Sakura-san and Naruto-kun too…" Lee said. Hinata ignored Lees commentary.

"We should go and get them! Lee-kun, can you go and get Shikamaru-kun, Kiba-kun and TenTen-san in the basement? I and Shino-kun can go and get Neji-niisama and Chouji-kun." Lee looked confused at her.  
"But what about.." Hinata stood up, still smiling.

"Go and get them now, Lee-kun! Come Shino-kun!" Shino stood up too and looked a little confused at her too.

"…Why did you not mention them?..."

"Come on now, Shino-kun!" Hinata started to walk out of the room. He looked down as he followed her, thinking that he was ruining something again. "Where can they be?" She stopped in the hallway, looking around. "Neji-niisama!! Chouji-kun!!" Neji came out of the kitchen, holding a cup of coffee.

"Yes, Hinata-sama?" Hinata smiled towards him.

"We are going to get ready for bed now and then share secrets before sleeping. It would be great if you would join us."

"Okay, Hinata-sama, I'll come in a minute." Neji walked back into the kitchen. She clapped her hands a little.  
"Great! Now, where's Chouji-kun…" Then they heard Choujis voice.

"Can someone help me?!"

"What? Chouji-kun? Where are you?" Hinata looked around, trying to figure out where the sounds came from.

"Help me!" The whining came from the bathroom. They looked a little weird at the bathroom-door.

"What have you done, Chouji-kun?"

"I'm stuck!" Hinata became a little scared.

"Stuck…?"

"I'm stuck! The door won't open, and I accidentally stepped in a bucket, and it won't come off!"

"…oh… I would have guessed on the toilet…" Shino said as he walked to the door and tried to open it.

"I don't want to be here anymore! Help me!" Chouji hit a little on the door. When the door wouldn't open, Shino sent in some bugs in the lock to make it unlock.

"Take it easy, Chouji-kun. Shino-kun will make the door open." Hinata suddenly stood beside him, and put her hands on the door.

"He will? Cause I don't want to be here!! I'm alone and I think the lamp is broken!"

"Don't worry, Shino-kun is soon done, right, Shino-kun?" Hinata looked at Shino. He nodded a little before the bugs returned to him and he opened the door. Chouji fell out with a bucket on one foot and a trashcan on the other, and he looked at Shino with grateful eyes.

"Thank you, Shino! Thank you so much!" Shino looked at him.

"…You should let us take of the bucket…and the trashcan…."

"Yeah, you're right…" Chouji sat up and held up his feet towards them. They took one each and tried to pull them of and soon they succeeded. "Thank you!" Chouji stood up. Hinata smiled towards him and then Shino.

"It's because Shino-kun was here that we could get the door opened."

"Shino! You're the best!" Chouji smiled big towards Shino. Shino really wished that he'd had his collar now.

"…I did not do anything exceptional…"

"I'm eternal grateful to you!" He began to walk to the livingroom to get his toothbrush.

"…No…" Chouji followed him.

"I am!"

"…It was nothing special…Anyone could have done it…"

"But you did it! You are a real friend!" He squat down by his backpack, wondering why Chouji called him friend. They didn't 'hang out' so much, as the others would say. He picked up his toothbrush and walked to the bathroom again. Hinata stood in there and tried to reach the lamp, and muttered a little.

"Why am I so short?"

"… I can do it, Hinata…" Shino stood beside her and reached up to the lamp, standing a little on his toes.

"Oh… Thank you…" She walked to a shelf and took down a new bulb. Shino gave her the old and took the new.

"…No need for that…" She smiled towards him.

"And thank you for opening the door without doing any harm on it."

"…Anyone could have done it…" He reached up to the lamp again.

"No, that's not true."

"…It is…" The bathroom lit up again and Shino took his toothbrush, remembering that he had no toothpaste. Hinata noticed that he just looked at his toothbrush.

"Do you want to borrow the toothpaste?"

"…If you do not mind…" He felt a little ashamed to have forgotten something like that and then had to borrow by Hinata.

"It's okay. We have so much toothpaste." Hinata pointed at a shelf with about five tubes of toothpaste.

"…Oh…" Shino looked at them too but didn't know which one to take.

"It don't matter which one you take…" He looked at her a little before taking the one that looked like the one he had at home. She smiled a little.

"I'll go and look if Lee-kun have brought the others.." He nodded while he put some toothpaste on his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth. Hinata walked out to the livingroom and saw that Lee was there with the others, including Naruto and Sakura. She looked a little angry at them. She felt like yelling at them, but didn't, she just walked to her sleepingbag and sat down. Lee jumped to his and sat down too.

"I got them like you told me too!"

"That's good, Lee-kun." She smiled towards him.  
"Now to the next mission… Brush you teeth as fast as you can!!" Lee grabbed his toothbrush and rushed to the bathroom. Hinata smiled a little more and looked at the others.

"If someone else wants to brush their teeth, we have another bathroom in the basement…" The people began to search for their toothbrushes. Hinata stood up and walked to the bathroom in the basement, because it was there she had her toothbrush. When she came she noticed that Neji already was there, brushing his teeth. "Oh… Excuse me Neji-niisama…" She walked up to him, and took her toothbrush. He looked at her but didn't say anything since he was brushing his teeth. She put some toothpaste on her toothbrush and started to brush her teeth too. It almost felt like when they were smaller and Neji often slept over. She smiled a little when she thought about it, they sure had had fun all those times. Neji looked at her, wondering why she was smiling now. But he didn't ask, she maybe thought of something private. As long as she was happy, he was pleased. Then Naruto came to brush his teeth too, and Hinata stopped smiling. Neji wondered why, since he knew Hinata liked this Uzumaki boy. And when Naruto walked so he stood beside her, she moved away from him. Had this Uzumaki kid done something inappropriate to her? Neji got an urge to strangle Naruto, but didn't. Hinata hurried to get done and then left again. Naruto looked after her, and Neji looked at Naruto.

"Hey, Uzumaki. Have you done anything to Hinata-sama?"

"Nothing, dattebayo."

"You sure?" Neji walked a little closer, glaring a little.

"Yeah! I didn't do anything to her!"

"Then why did she act like that?"

"I don't know. It may be because she seems to like the dry stick…"

"The dry stick? And everyone knows that she likes you."

"Shino. I just said the truth about him and she got like crazy and hit me, dattebayo…"

"Hinata-sama cares very much about her friends. She doesn't like to hear people talking bad about them." Neji thought that Naruto deserved to get hit.

"Well, the dry stick apparently needs someone to protect him, even by a girl…"

"His name is Shino. And Hinata-sama would protect anybody."

"So now you're protecting him too? I thought you didn't like him."

"I don't like him, and I'm not protecting him. I'm protecting Hinata-sama."

"Well, that dry stick will probably go all the way with her if he keeps up making her feel so sorry for him…"

"Go… all… the… way?" Neji got an urge to zap Shino.

"Well, you know. A girl apparently likes to protect the ones that weaker. And the dry stick is so extremely weak so Hinata'll probably do it with him…"

"… Why would she do it with him, if she just wants to protect him?"

"You know girls… They want to hug weaker ones all the time and maybe she'll feel so sorry about the dry stick that she'll try to make him feel wanted and loved. Tsh." Neji didn't say anything, he just walked out of the bathroom and up to the livingroom to make sure that Hinata didn't do anything stupid. And when he saw that her sleepingbag was next to Shinos he felt an urge to move his to the other side of the room. But instead he moved his own sleepingbag so it was in between Shinos and Hinatas, really close to Hinatas.

"Oh, Neji-kun! How nice of you to join us!!" Lee looked up from a comic book and smiled towards him.

"Yeah… Sure…" Neji sat down on his sleepingbag, and thought that it was good that Lee were sleeping there too.

"We're going to share secrets!!"

"We are?" Neji looked at Lee. He nodded and looked excited.

"It'll be fun!!"

"Yeah… By the way, do you know where Hinata-sama is?"

"I think she went to her room to get something…"

"Is she alone?"

"I believe so…"

"Good." Neji stood up again and walked to Hinatas room. When he came there he knocked at the door. "Hinata-sama?"

"Yes?" Hinata opened the door.

"There isn't anything between you and Aburame, is it?"

"No… He's just a friend…"

"Good. Stay that way. Don't let him make you do something you'll regret later."

"What?"   
"Don't let him fool you, that's all I'll say…" He walked back to the livingroom again. Hinata looked a little confused after him, before she walked back into her room. She had to wrap up the last of the gifts; cause she had planned to lay them beside her friends after all had fallen asleep. She couldn't wait to see their faces when they woke up next morning. She smiled a little until she came to Narutos gift. She looked at it, thinking that Naruto wasn't as she had thought. It was such a disappointment. She slowly began to wrap it up, feeling like crying. She had thought that he was someone who understood how it was to be alone and how horrible it was. And that he was nice to everyone. It felt unreal that he had been so mean to Shino. And she felt bad over that she hadn't noticed it. No wonder he had wanted to be with her all evening… She finished wrapping up Narutos present, and put it down. Almost all gifts were done now. She looked at the remaining gifts, and smiled a little again. She hoped they would be appreciated. She had spent a whole day running around, looking after the perfect gifts. And even though her wallet had been taking bad damage, she had found them. She smiled more, thinking that her friends would get so surprised. She couldn't wait until the morning. She wrapped up the rest of the gifts and walked out to the livingroom. Everyone had changed into their pyjamas and was sitting on their sleepingbags, talking. She walked to her sleepingbag and sat down, while looking a little confused at Neji.

"Neji-niisama, why are you sleeping here?"

"I felt like sleeping beside my cousin…" She looked towards Shino and it felt like she was so far away from him.

"Oh… Okay… But…" Shino looked like he was cut from the others again when he sat on his sleepingbag in the corner. "Shino-kun looks so lonely…" Neji turned around and looked at him a little while before turning to her again.

"He's fine."

"But… He seems so sad…" Hinata wanted to go to Shino and hug him to show that he wasn't alone.

"He's fine." Shino was just sitting in the corner, looking at his backpack that was beside him.

"No… He isn't…" Hinata stood up, walked to Shino and sat down next to him. Neji looked at her, wanting to tell her to go away but that would be mean. "Hi, Shino-kun…" Shino didn't look at her, nor did he answer. "What are you doing?" He pushed away his backpack from her.

"…Nothing…"

"Ok…" Hinata smiled a little towards him. Shino looked a little at her, before looking down again at his backpack. "What do you want to do tomorrow, Shino-kun?"

"…Say 'Merry Christmas'…" He still looked down at the backpack.

"Are you excited too? I mean, it's Christmas!" Hinata smiled more. He smiled a little too and pulled his backpack close to him.

"…yeah…" Hinata looked at his backpack, wondering why he moved it away from her, but didn't ask why. He held his hand over the opening so she couldn't see anything either. She got curious, very curious. "Shino-kun… Why are you doing like that?" He looked at her.

"…doing what?..." She pointed at his backpack.

"Hiding your backpack." He pulled it even closer to him before closing it.

"…no reason…"

"No, really, why?"

"…It is a secret…"

"Ok…." Hinata thought that he maybe had an extra pair of boxers, and that he didn't want her to see them. Or maybe he had a little cute teddy bear he couldn't sleep without. She smiled a little, thinking that that would be cute. Maybe she would go get hers so he wouldn't feel ashamed if that would be the case. She thought it over, and decided not to, cause her teddy bear was so old and all worn. She yawned a little, she was getting tired. But she had to stay awake, until everyone else had fallen asleep. She hoped they would fall asleep soon. She was getting really tired. Shino looked at her a little before looking at his backpack again. He wondered if she would like her gift. He had actually used all his allowance on the little bracelet he had bought. It had been quite expensive… But then again it was a really pretty one in gold. And it would fit Hinata perfectly. He smiled a little; maybe she would thank him and give him a hug. And maybe a little kiss on the cheek. He almost began to blush little just thinking about it. He would get very happy if she would give him a little kiss. That would make his Christmas perfect. Then he saw how Hinata rubbed her eyes a little, while yawning.

"…Are you tired, Hinata?..."

"A little maybe…" She smiled a little.

"…Then you should sleep…"

"No, No, it's okay…"

"…The sooner you sleep, the sooner it is Christmas morning…"

"I'm not that tired, Shino-kun." She smiled a little more.

"…I am tired…" Shino just wanted to wake up so he could give Hinata the gift.

"Oh… Should I move, so that you can sleep?"

"…I can be awake a little more…"

"Ok… Then we can share secrets."

"…secrets?..."

"Yes, Secrets." She smiled towards him, but he didn't feel like smiling, he didn't know anything about sharing secrets.

"…oh…" She stopped smiling and looked a little worried.

"Don't you want to share secrets?"

"…I have never done it before…"

"Oh… Okay…" She looked a little sad and Shino felt like he was the reason.

"…but…if you want to do it… I can try…"

"You don't have to, Shino-kun."

"…If you want to share secrets…I want to do it with you…"

"You sure?"

"…I just do not really know if I have any secrets you would like to hear…"

"I'm sure of that you have at least one."

"…You are?..."

"Yes… What's in your backpack?" Hinata pointed at his backpack.

"…That…I can not tell you…"

"Why not?" Hinata felt like whining, but didn't.

"…I will show you some other day but not yet…"

"Oh… Okay…" Hinata smiled a little. Shino looked at her, thinking that she was so pretty.

"...Do you have any secret to tell me?..."

"I don't know… Do you want to know anything about me?" He actually wanted to now everything about her but didn't know what to ask. She just smiled a little towards him, waiting for a question.

"…What is your greatest dream?..."

"Oh… To be an ordinary girl, who can do whatever she wants, to love whoever she wants and that have a family that loves her very much…" Hinata got a sad and dreamy look on her face. Shino looked down, feeling a little sad that Hinata had to dream about that.

"…oh…"

"But it would be great to become a great ninja too…" Hinata smiled towards him, to make him think of something else. But he couldn't since he felt so bad that he had whined about that he didn't want to be alone when he had a father and a grandmother that loved him. Hinata had it much worse, since her family didn't seem to love her. He felt so ashamed. "What's your greatest dream, Shino-kun?" He didn't look up at her.

"…my…greatest dream…"

"Yes, your greatest dream."

"…It would be to spend my days with the girl I like..." She started to blush.

"Oh…"

"…But it is only a dream…" Hinata didn't answer, she felt bad over that she couldn't like Shino on that way. "…but to just have a good friend…would be nice…"

"But… you have a good friend…" He smiled towards her.

"…I know…" She smiled back.

"And I have a good friend too."

"…Who?..."

"Well, I have many good friends. It's You, Kiba-kun and Neji-niisama." Shino began to blush a little.

"…me?..." Hinata nodded, still smiling.

"Yes, you." Shino looked down, still blushing since he hadn't thought he was a good friend for Hinata. "You're one of my best friends." Hinata smiled more. He began to blush a little more.

"…be…best fr…friend?…"

"Yes. One of my best friends."

"…oh…I never…I never thought… I would have someone… that would refer to me as best friend…"

"But I am, and I mean it."

"…Thank you, Hinata…"

"No need to thank me, Shino-kun."

"…It is..." He wished he had his collar so Hinata wouldn't see him blushing like that.

"No, I'm just telling the truth." Hinata smiled a little more, thinking that he really was one of her best friends.

"…I am feeling honoured…That you thinks so…"

"I don't think so. I know so." Shino blushed even more, feeling so extremely happy. Hinata smiled more, and were about to say anything more, when Neji put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hinata-sama, it's time for everyone to go to sleep now." She looked up at him, thinking that it was about time.

"Okay, Neji-niisama."

"I've told everyone else, Hinata-sama." Neji moved back to his sleepingbag and laid down in it. Hinata stood up.

"Well, good night then Shino-kun…" Shino wanted to give her a good night hug and kiss, but didn't, he just laid down in his sleepingbag.

"Good night, Hinata…" She smiled a little and walked to hers, laying down too, and waited for them all to fall asleep. By listening to the sounds, she could hear that Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru and Chouji already were asleep. That meant only Neji, Shino, Sakura, TenTen, Lee and Naruto was left. After a while she heard how Lee started to snore, and she smiled a little, only five left. It began to being hard just to keep her eyes open but she had to fight it. She had to stay awake. She had to wait until everyone fell asleep so she could go get the gifts, put them beside each one of them and after that she could sleep. One after one the others fell asleep, and after a while it was just Shino and Neji left. She sighed a little inside her head, wondering why they couldn't fall asleep soon. But she knew that Neji was going to be awake until she fell asleep. Maybe if she pretended to be asleep… She closed her eyes and started to breathe like she was sleeping. She hoped he would fall for it. And he did, so now it was only Shino left. She lay like for an eternity it felt like, but Shino still didn't fall asleep, but she could hear how he did something with his backpack. She got curious, but didn't look up. She could hear him sigh a little and she wondered why he sighed. Had he forgot his teddy bear or what? Then it sounded like he put something down in the backpack again and he closed it. She got really curious, but still didn't look up. After a while she could hear how he began to breathe slower and she thought that he was sleeping now. She slowly sat up and looked around in the room. Everyone was asleep, at last. She slowly stood up and sneaked out of the room. The plan would work out perfect. She walked to her room and picked up the gifts. She couldn't help smiling a little for herself; it would be so great to see their expressions in the morning. She sneaked back into the livingroom, and started to put the gifts next to their sleepingbags. No one woke up of it and she felt relieved. She sneaked back to her sleepingbag and laid down in it again, smiling a little. She could barely wait until tomorrow. It felt like she never was going to sleep, she was so excited.


	9. Christmas!

Chap 9 – CHRISTMAS!!

She opened her eyes again and noticed that it was morning. She sat up and looked around in the room; she was the only one awake. Excellent, now she really could see their reactions. She smiled big, and wished that they all would wake up quick. It was Christmas so they should wake up quick. She was so excited to see the looks on their faces. Then she could hear Neji move a little, muttering something. She looked at him, hoping that he would wake up. And so he did.

"…Hinata-sama… Good morning…"

"Good morning, Neji-niisama, and Merry Christmas." She smiled towards him. He sat up and yawned a little as he rubbed his eyes.

"Merry Christmas, Hinata-sama…" She smiled even more, thinking that he soon would notice the gift. But instead he leaned to his other side and picked something up and gave to her. "From me to you…" She took it and looked at it.

"A… gift… to me?"

"Yes… and I see you have done one for me too…" Neji looked down at the gift that laid beside him with a note that said 'To Neji-niisama from Hinata'. She smiled towards him.

"Yes, Of course, you're my best cousin."

"Well, you're mine too so open your gift now."

"Ok…" She slowly opened the gift. When she saw what it was she put her hand in front of her mouth. "Neji-niisama… you shouldn't have…" She took up a beautiful necklace. "Oh my… You shouldn't have…"

"I thought you would like it…" He began to open his gift. Hinata looked at him.

"I do, it's really beautiful…" Neji looked down at the gift.

"Thank you very much, Hinata-sama." Hinata smiled towards him.

"I had a hard time choosing it, so I hope that you'll like it."

"I like it." He smiled towards her before picking it up from the box.

"You do?" Hinata smiled more.

"I do."

"That makes me happy. I wasn't sure if you would."

"Well…I do." He looked at the picture with the beautiful and calm landscape. Hinata looked at the necklace again.

"It's so beautiful… And it looks expensive…"

"I think that you're worth it, Hinata-sama." He smiled towards her. She blushed a little, but smiled back.

"Thank you, Neji-niisama. I hope that it didn't cost too much…"

"Don't mind the price…" He gave her a little hug, to thank her for the gift. She hugged him back and gave him a little kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you so much, Neji-niisama." He began to blush a little.

"No…Thank you, Hinata-sama…" She didn't say anything; she just hugged him, wondering how much money he had spent on her gift. She then heard how the others began to move a little and yawning. She let go of Neji, and looked around in the room, smiling a little.

"Good morning and Merry Christmas everyone."

"OOOOHHH!!! THANK YOU, HINATA-SAN!!!" Lee had apparently noticed the gift. She smiled towards him.

"I hope that you'll like it." He ripped the gift open and picked up a green calculator with orange buttons.

"Oh my god!! A super-ultra-hyper-modern-hip calculator!!"

"I thought of you when I saw it." She smiled more. Lee jumped up and hugged Hinata, hard.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" She blushed a little and hugged him back.

"You don't have to thank me so much…"

"I love it, I love it, I love it! I'm sorry I don't have anything for you, Hinata-sama! I promise I'll do anything for you! Clean the house or anything!!" Hinata shook her head a little.

"No, no need for that, Lee-kun…"

"You just have to ask and I'll do it!!" Lee let go of her and went to his sleepingbag again, playing with the calculator. Hinata smiled and looked around in the room again.

"Ok, Lee-kun…" One after one they opened this gift, and they all gave her a hug, everyone but Shino who just sat in his corner, looking at his gift without opening it. Hinata looked at him. "Shino-kun… Is something wrong?" Shino shook his head.  
"…No… It just that…"

"What?" Hinata looked a little worried.

"…I never expected to get a gift…"

"Oh… But you got one." She smiled towards him.

"…Yeah…" Shino didn't know what to do with it, was he supposed to open it, what if it was a misunderstanding.

"Come on, open it." Hinata smiled more.

"…Oh…Ok…" He slowly began to open the gift, being extremely careful. Hinata watched him, waiting for his reaction when he saw the gift. "…Oh…" Shino stared down at the gift and was amazed over that she had given him something like that.

"Do you like it?" Hinata smiled more.

"…I am stunned…"

"You are? Why?"

"…I am so glad that you gave me something like this…" He looked at the all-you-need-to-know-about-bugs-book.

"You are?" Hinatas smile got bigger. Shino knew almost everything there was to know about bugs but he looked up at her and smiled.

"…I am…"

"That makes me really happy!" Hinata smiled even more. Shino smiled too and then noticed the necklace she had around her neck.

"…I see you have got a gift too…" She smiled and looked at it.

"Yes, I got it from Neji-niisama…" Shino looked down at his backpack, thinking that his gift was nothing compare to that necklace.

"…I see…"

"Isn't it beautiful?" Hinata still looked at it.

"…Yeah…It really is…" The bracelet he had bought would look like junk beside it. Then it seemed like Hinata realised something.

"Oh… You haven't got a Merry Christmas hug yet, Shino-kun."

"…What?..." He looked up at her, slightly confused. She moved to him and gave him a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Shino-kun. I hope that you'll have use of the book." Shino began to blush.

"…But…But…I have not given you…"

"It's okay, only Neji-niisama had a gift for me…" Shino looked down and almost whispered.

"…I have a gift…"

"You do?" Hinata let go of him and looked at him. He still looked down, blushing, as he nodded a little. "Oh… Thank you, Shino-kun…" He picked up his backpack, wondering if he dared to pick the gift up, since she wouldn't think it was special. She looked at him, wondering why he seemed to hesitate. He looked at her a little before slowly opening the backpack.

"…It is not much…" She smiled towards him.

"I'm sure of that I'll like it, Shino-kun." He hesitated a little before giving the golden paper wrapped gift to her.

"…It really is not much…" She took it, opened it and gasped a little when she saw the bracelet.

"Oh my… Shino-kun…"

"…I know it is not much…"

"Is it… real gold?" She took it up and looked at it. Shino nodded.

"…But it is not as beautiful as the necklace you got from Neji…"

"It is beautiful too, Shino-kun. It's really beautiful…" Hinata couldn't believe that it was real gold. Shino looked down, thinking that he could forget that little kiss on his cheek now. "Thank you Shino-kun. Thank you so much." Hinata hugged him hard and gave him a kiss on his cheek. He began to blush really much, wondering if it was a dream. "I love it. Thank you so much." Hinata let go of him and put on the bracelet.

"…It is not much…" Shino still blushed and he looked down.

"It is. And it matches with my necklace." Hinata couldn't take her eyes of the bracelet, wondering how much it Shino had paid for it.

"…I thought of you when I saw it…"

"You did?" She looked at him.

"…and I wanted to… give you something…"

"Thank you, Shino-kun… I'm sorry if my gift wasn't so expensive…"

"… I am just so glad that you gave something I like…that means that you… care…"

"Well, of course. You're one of my best friends."  
"Isn't it time for breakfast? I'm starving…" They then could hear Kiba whine.

"Oh right." Hinata stood up and walked out to the kitchen. "What would you like for breakfast?" She shouted to the others as she walked to the refrigerator.

"Meat!" Kiba shouted back. Hinata scratched her head a little.

"…meat… What can I do for breakfast from that?" She opened the refrigerator and looked inside. "I have no idea…" Meat wasn't something you usually ate on Christmas morning. It was rice pudding. "You don't want rice pudding instead?"

"Rice pudding? What's that?" Kiba came into the kitchen.

"You never have eaten rice pudding? It's what you usually eat on Christmas morning…"

"Oh…. Well… I eat meat…" Kiba scratched his head a little. Hinata smiled a little.

"Then you can try rice pudding this year."

"Yeah! Is it good?"

"It is. Or… I like it at least…"

"Ok. Can dogs eat it too?"

"…I don't…know really…" She had never heard of a dog eating rice pudding. "Maybe… We can try to give Akamaru a little, and if he doesn't like it, he can have a meat bone instead…"

"Ok, that sounds good!" He smiled big. Hinata took forth what she needed for the making of the rice pudding.

"While I cook the rice pudding, you and the others can watch TV or something."

"You don't need help with anything?"

"No… I don't think so… It isn't so hard to do rice pudding…"

"Ok! Shout when it's ready!" Kiba walked out again and Hinata began to make the rice pudding. She started to sing a little for herself, when she heard that the others watched TV. It felt like it was such a great morning. And everyone had liked their gifts. She felt so happy. The slumberparty hadn't turned to a disaster after all. That was the greatest Christmas gift ever. She smiled big, still singing for herself.

"You still sing very lovely, Hinata-sama." She suddenly heard Neji say and she began to blush a little as she turned around to look at him.

"Neji-niisama… I didn't know that you were there…"

"I thought I should help you, but your singing was so beautiful that I could only stand here and listen to it." She began to blush more and shook her head a little.

"No… I don't sing so good…"

"Don't be so modest, Hinata-sama…"

"But… I don't sing good…"

"You are… And you better watch that rice pudding…" Hinata turned to the rice pudding again and started to stir it.

"Oh, right. Thank you, Neji-niisama…" Neji smiled a little and began to make the table. "Are the others enjoying themselves?" Hinata looked at him over her shoulder.

"I think so… At least Lee…" Neji laughed a little at the thought.

"He really loved that calculator."

"Yeah…it was a great gift for him…"

"I thought so. He loves to count things."

"Yeah…It's very bothersome when we're on missions…"

"It is?"

"When he are counting all the stones and trees on the way it is…" Neji sighed a little as he put the last things on the table.

"But he enjoys it…" Hinata looked at the rice pudding again, and wondered if it was ready.

"Yeah…But I don't…especially when there are enemies around."

"Okay… I understand. The enemies notice you, right?"

"Yeah…it's good we're strong…"

"Yes, you're in a very strong team, Neji-niisama…"

"I know…"

"My team is strong too… I wished that I was as strong as Shino-kun and Kiba-kun…"

"You're still just 11, you'll become stronger soon you too."

"But… Kiba-kun and Shino-kun was strong when they were 11…"

"Believe me; your strength will come…"

"You think so?" Hinata decided that the rice pudding was done, and took forth two put-holders out of a drawer.

"I know so… should I get the others?"

"Yes, thank you. I'll put the saucepan on the table…" She used the put-holders on the handle on the saucepan and lifted it up.

"Be careful with it so you don't hurt yourself…" Neji sounded a little concerned.

"What?" She looked at him.

"It looks heavy…"

"It's okay, I've done this a million times before…" Hinata said and smiled a little.

"Ok…" Neji looked at little worried at her before going to the livingroom. Hinata walked to the table and put the saucepan down on it, and burned her hand a little on it.

"Ouch!" Neji came rushing in again after that he'd told the others that it was breakfast.

"Hinata-sama! Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, No. It's okay…" Hinata smiled towards him, hiding her hand behind her back. He looked a little at her in disbelief as he walked to her and took her hand.

"You burnt yourself, didn't you?"

"No, no. Not at all…" Hinata pulled away her hand. Neji walked to a cupboard and took down a first aid box.

"Don't lie, Hinata-sama…"

"That's not necessary, and I'm not lying…"

"Give me your hand…" He took it again and examined it as the others entered the kitchen. Hinata blushed a little, and tried to pull away her hand again.

"Neji-niisama… It's not necessary…" But Neji kept holding it and put an ointment on it before putting on a bandage.

"I'll take care of it…"

"Neji-niisama… You don't have to…" The others were watching them, and Hinata felt uneasy. "Please, Neji-niisama…" She whined a little. She hated when people watched her, but Neji didn't let go of her hand. "Neji-niisama…" Neji just kept on putting the bandage on until he felt like he was done.

"So…It shouldn't hurt now…"

"Thank you…" Hinata quickly pulled her hand to her again and turned towards the table and sat down. The others sat down too and Kiba looked curious at the saucepan.

"Is this rice pudding?"

"Yes, it is…" Hinata smiled a little towards him.

"It looks good, don't it, Akamaru?" Akamaru barked, agreeing, and Hinata smiled a little more.

"I hope that he'll like it."

"I'll bet he'll do!" Kiba smiled as he took some of the rice pudding and tried it.

"Was it good, Kiba-kun?" He nodded and gave some to Akamaru.

"Taste it, Akamaru." Akamaru tasted a little and began to wag his tale and barked a little. "It's good, isn't it? Hinata, you have to give my mom the recipe." Kiba smiled towards Hinata before he continued to eat.

"Oh… Okay…" Hinata thought that Kibas mom had to know how to make rice pudding.

"I'm really hungry!" Chouji took some rice pudding too.

"Me too!" Lee took rice pudding too.

"I love rice pudding." Hinata felt so glad that everyone was so happy about the breakfast. It was such a good slumberparty after all. She looked around a little and then noticed that Shino wasn't there.

"Where's Shino-kun?"

"He's sitting in the livingroom, reading. He said he would come in a minute." Kiba said before eating again.

"Reading?" Hinata wondered if he read the book she gave him.

"Yeah, that bug-book, you know."

"Oh… Ok…" Hinata felt glad that he had liked the book, but she wanted him to eat breakfast with them too. It wasn't good for him to be alone, so she stood up. "I'm going to get Shino-kun."

"Do that." She walked out to the livingroom.

"Shino-kun?" He sat on his sleepingbag and looked up from the book.

"…yes?..."

"You should come and eat breakfast too…"

"…I will just read this first…"

"But… The rice pudding will get cold…" Shino looked down at the book again.

"…I can eat it cold…"

"But… Can you be sitting here all alone?"

"…Yeah…"

"But…" Hinata looked a little sad at him. He looked up at her again, with a look that asked 'but what?'. "It isn't good to be alone…"

"…I do not mind…I will come later…"

"But… Shino-kun… I want you to eat breakfast with us…"  
"…You do?..."

"Yes. Why wouldn't I?" He put down the book and stood up.

"…I will come then…"

"Good." Hinata smiled and walked back to the kitchen. He followed her. She sat down and started to eat her rice pudding, still smiling. Shino looked around, wondering where he would sit.  
"Shino, you can sit here!" Sakura pointed at a chair next to her.

"…Oh…Ok…" Shino walked there and sat down, being a little surprised that she'd said that.

"Hinatas rice pudding is great." Sakura smiled towards him. He looked a little at her before taking some rice pudding. "I've never eaten rice pudding that is this good before." She smiled a little more, and looked at her plate.

"…Hinata is a great cook…"

"Yeah, She is. I wish that I could be a great cook too…" She sighed a little.

"…If you train, you will learn…" Shino said, thinking it actually sounded a little stupid and that she would laugh at him. But she didn't, she nodded instead.

"Yeah, maybe… I should cook more."

"…I am sure of that you will be a great cook too…" Shino ate a little.

"You are?" Sakura looked at him again.

"…Yes…" He felt a little ill at ease when she looked at him and talked to him, he wasn't used to it.

"Thank you, but how can you be so sure of that when you've never tasted food that I've cooked?"

"…every caterpillar has the ability to transform into a butterfly…"

"The most girls would take that as you thought that they were ugly, you know. But I understand what you mean." Shino looked down at his plate.

"…I am sorry….I did not mean to offend…"

"You're not offending me. I'm not offended. I'm just informing you that girls like Ino would take it like that."

"…It is only a metaphor…that something small can become something great…"

"I know. I find it kinda interesting. The thing with the caterpillar turning into a butterfly I mean."

"…It's only the evolution that most of the bugs go through…"

"Many bugs do?"

"…yeah…bees, beetles…almost every bug…"

"Wow… I who thought that bugs just were gross…"

"…Most does that…"

"But they seem kinda interesting… The bugs I mean."

"…yeah…they are…"

"You know really much about bugs, right?"

"…If you have not noticed…I am from the Aburame clan… I have bugs inside me…"

"I think that's kinda cool. I mean, it's not many people that have bugs inside of them." Shino looked weird at her, wondering if he actually had heard right. "Doesn't it feel weird when they move around inside of you?" Why was she talking to him so much?

"…no…Why would it?..."

"It feels weird when bugs walk on your skin…"

"…I do not think so… It is just natural…"

"It's not natural for me…"

"…I understand…"

"Is every bug inside of you of the same kind, or is it different?"

"…It is a mix…"

"Cool… How many bugs do you have inside of you?"

"…Why are you asking me all these questions?..."

"Because I'm curious, and want to know more about you."

"…ok…well…I have not counted them in a while…"

"Oh… Okay… "

"…Last time I checked they were about 900 000 but they are multiplying all the time…"

"Oh… My… God…" Sakura looked a little shocked.

"…I know it is not much, but I am only a kid…"

"Not much? I think its really much."

"…My father has about 4 billions…" Shino ate a little more.

"What?"

"…We are Aburame after all…"

"Yeah… I wish that my family had some cool powers too…"

"…It is not a power…It is bugs…"

"But you get what I mean?"

"…Yeah…but each coin has two sides…"

"Is it bad to have super powers / bugs?"

"…It is many who are afraid…"

"Of the bugs?"

"…and of me…because I have them inside…" Shino didn't know why he could talk so much with Sakura without problem.

"Oh… but I think that it's cool…" Sakura started to eat again. Shino could feel his cheeks get a little warmer when she said that and he didn't know what to say. "Are you blushing?" Sakura looked at him.

"…no…" He began to eat again.

"It looks like you're blushing…"

"…The rice pudding is warm…" He cursed himself for blushing so she could see it, he wanted his collar.

"Oh… okay…" Sakura smiled a little, thinking that he lied. Shino couldn't think out something else to say, so he was quiet. "So… What did you get from Hinata?

"…a book about bugs…"

"Ok… cool…"Shino looked down at his plate, why didn't she talk to the person on her other side? "I got these earrings…" Sakura showed him her ear. He looked at them, they was nice.

"…pretty…"

"Yeah. Hinata have a good taste." She smiled towards him.  
"…yeah…I guess she have…" He looked down again.

"I didn't know that she had such a good taste… I mean, she don't talk so much to other girls…" Shino wondered if he and Kiba took up too much of her time if she wasn't with other girls. "I think it's because she's so shy…"

"…yeah…"

"I got a little shocked when I got the invitation to this slumberparty."

"…she wanted to invite everyone…"

"Yeah… I know…" Shino thought that another reason that Sakura was invited was because she was in Narutos team, but he didn't say anything. "But can you believe that Ino did it with Neji? I mean, she such a slut!" Shino looked shocked at her.  
"…What?..."

"She did it with Neji. She's such a easy trash!"

"…How can you say that?... Is she not your friend?..."

"Oh, you can never know with her!"

"…Ok…But if she decided that she wanted to…do it… then it is hers problem…"

"She'll get pregnant, I'm sure of it."

"…It is up to her…"

"She's like 12…"

"…She may not have become pregnant…"

"That's true…" Shino ate the last of his rice pudding. Sakura ate the last of her rice pudding and sighed a little. "It's so good…"

"…Yeah…" Shino looked towards Hinata that was talking to Neji. She was so pretty in her pyjamas. He just wanted to look at her all day. Neji noticed his look and glared a little at him. He quickly looked down, feeling ashamed. Neji turned to Hinata again, and continued to talk with her. Shino sighed a little. Why was Hinatas cousin so protecting all the time? He wasn't even a threat. She loved Naruto, not him. He was just a team mate. And a friend. Nothing more. He would never be more. He sighed again. His heart began to hurt again. And he didn't want it to. He wanted to be happy. Now when someone actually had talked with him without reason. The only ones who had done that before was Hinata and Kiba. It felt nice, and a little scary. He didn't know why she talked to him. It was so strange. And he didn't even know what to say to her. He wasn't used to these situations. It was just scary. Maybe he just should sit quiet. He was good at being quiet. It wouldn't disturb him. He had been quiet for so long, so he could just continue with it.

"What have your family planned for the holidays?"

"I… do not know…"

"Ok. I'm going to be home the whole holiday. Quite boring."

"But… if you are with your family, it can not be boring…"

"It can! I mean, I prefer friends."

"… Ok…"

"do you prefer to be with your family? Can that be fun?"

"I have always been with my family on the Christmas…"

"and you like that? Don't you like this better?"

"… Well… I guess that this is better…" Sakura smiled towards him.

"It is, isn't it?"

"… Yes…" Shino hoped that she would stop talking to him, he got uneasy.

"How are you celebrating new year?"

"… As usual… With my family… I guess…"

"You don't want to come at the party I'm thinking about having?"

"… Are you inviting me to a party?..."

"You don't want to come?"

"… I do… But…"

"But what? You **have** to be with your family?"

"…. No… I just can not believe that you are inviting you to a party…"

"Well, I am. You're free to come."

"… Ok… Thank you…"

" It would be great if you came."

"… It would?..."

"yeah, it would."

"… oh…" Sakura just smiled towards him and he felt even more uneasy. Why did she invite him? Did she just joke with him? He didn't know what to believe. It sounded just like a bad joke though. He hoped that it weren't. It would actually be nice if he was invited.

"I'm thinking of having a costume party…"

"… A costume party?..."

"Yeah, don't you know what that is?"

"…I have never been to one…"

"Oh… but a costume party is when you have a costume… and are at a party…"

"…like… the Santa Claus…?"

"If you would like to dress like Santa Claus so…"

"…I see…"

"So you're coming?"

"…yeah… I guess…"

"good." Sakura smiled towards him. Shino looked down, he didn't like that she smiled so much towards him. "I wonder what I should dress like…" Shino didn't say anything. "Maybe a mermaid… But I'm to fat for it…" Sakura sighed.

"… too fat…?"

"Yes… Too fat..."

"…You are?..."

"Yes. Look at me!" Shino automatically did as she told him, but then he quickly looked down again.

"…You are not fat…"

"You think so?" He nodded a little. "Thank you!"

"…for what?..."

"For saying that I'm not fat."

"…it is nothing to thank for…" He could feel how he was about to blush again.

"It is! You're really nice, you know!"

"…I am not…"

"You are!" he began to blush a little.

"…no…"

"You are."

"..no…"

"You are, believe me…" She put her hand on his. He began to blush even more and pulled away his. She looked a little weird at him, but didn't say anything. He felt very uneasy now. She had touched him, and now she was looking at him. It was scary. And he didn't know what to do. he wasn't used to this. Not at all.


End file.
